Potentiation of the effect of steroid hormones (progesterone and testosterone) inducing the reinitiation of meiosis in Xenopus oocytes in vitro, by inhibitors of phosphatase activity

The induction of meiosis reinitiation by steroid hormones (progesterone and testosterone) in Xenopus laevis oocytes was studied in vitro in presence of inhibitors of phosphatase activity such as beta-glycerophosphate, considered as a competitive inhibitor, and the two ions, Zn++ and MoO--4. Kinetics of the germinal vesicle breakdown indicating the reinitiation of meiosis, have shown that while these phosphatase inhibitors were not active by themselves under the present experimental conditions, they enhanced the process elicited by progesterone or testosterone.