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The present study was undertaken to investigate structural alterations at the surface of presumptive neural cells after primary embryonic induction. For this purpose, plant lectin-mediated agglutinability of dissociated cells from the epiblast of Bufo arenarum gastrulae was tested. Two fragments of epiblast were excised from the same mid-gastrula: one from the dorsal side of the egg, making contact with the invaginating chordamesoblast and assumed to be composed of determined cells and the other from the ventral region of the egg, facing the blastocoele cavity and assumed to be composed of undetermined cells. Cells of the pooled fragments were dissociated in calcium-free Holtfreter's solution with potassium oxalate and incubated in the presence of different concentrations of phytohemagglutinin and concanavalin A. Epiblast cells overlying the archenteron roof are less agglutinated with both lectins than undetermined cells. On the other hand, when egg fragments were removed from the dorsal and ventral regions of early gastrulae before the archenteron was formed, no significant difference in lectin-mediated agglutinability was observed, even after having been cultured in vitro in absence of inducing tissue. These results suggest that the target of the inducing signal generated in the mesoblast is likely to be located on the surface of epiblast cells. Additional experiments showed that cells pretreated with colchicine, cytochalasin B or colchicine and cytochalasin B simultaneously exhibit no significant variation in agglutinability, suggesting that the cytoskeleton was not be involved in the cell surface alteration here described. Treatment of whole embryos or sandwich explants with concanavalin A or phytohemagglutinin has no effect on neural tube formation, suggesting that the carbohydrate-containing binding sites for these lectins are not involved in primary embryonic induction. Changes in cell agglutinability described in this paper are to be interpreted thus as a secondary expression of structural alterations in the cell surface concomitant with neural determination.

A table of development (25 stages) for the period of incubation in the pouch was constructed for Gastrotheca riobambae; it can be used to stage embryos of other egg-brooding hylids. Analysis of embryonic weights during incubation shows that the mother does not contribute nutrients, but gases and other factors are probably exchanged between mother and embryos. According to species, incubation on the back of the mother is carried to the froglet or to the tadpole stages. Development in these hylids is characterized by specialized gills, the bell gills derived from the brachial arches. In some species, the bell gills derive from the first branchial arch and cover less than 50% of the embryo, while in others, the bell gills come from both branchial arches I and II and cover from less than 50% to 100% of the embryo. The most complex bell gills derive from the fusion of the two branchial arches. The majority of egg-brooding hylids live in tropical forests and carry development to the froglet stage. Tadpoles are produced by species of Flectonotus, Fritziana, and Gastrotheca. Tadpole-producing species of Gastrotheca have the most complex reproductive adaptations among egg-brooding hylids Acceleration and retardation in development seem to have played important roles in the evolution of these frogs. The evolutionary trend has been toward direct development, i.e., disappearance of the free-living larval stages through maternal incubation, and later to a recovery of the free-living tadpole stages in species of Gastrotheca with the most complex reproductive adaptations.

Earlier studies have shown that a substance(s) released from the egg jelly of the toad Bufo arenarum is required for fertilization. In this paper some properties of this diffusible factor were further examined, and a procedure was designed for its isolation from crude egg extracts. The active component is soluble in water and ethanol, and insoluble in chloroform, ether and n-butanol. The biological activity is stable to liophylization and to heat, and remains unaffected after trypsin treatment. In contrast, it is impaired after treatment with ethyl acetate, 0.1 N HCl or chloroform, and is completely destroyed after converting the diffusible factor into ash. Data are presented showing that the recovery of fertilizability of extracted eggs in the bioassay system as carried out under present conditions, cannot be ascribed to a pH alteration of the insemination medium. This lends further support to the view that diffusible factor activity is not mediated through a pH effect. The factor was purified by gel chromatography coupled with desalting and paper chromatography. The active molecule is of low molecular weight and appears associated with a high pH ninhydrin-positive fraction.

Progesterone induces closure, vascularization, and the formation of embryonic chambers around inert beads in the brooding pouch of the frog Gastrotheca riobambae (Fowler). These changes of the pouch resemble those occurring during normal reproduction. In contrast to progesterone, human chorionic gonadotropin induces pouch closure only in females with large ovaries. The results suggest that pituitary gonadotropin indirectly induces the incubatory changes of the pouch by stimulating the secretion of a progesterone-like hormone from the ovary.

In the egg-brooding frog Gastrotheca riobambae (Fowler), oocyte maturation is comparable to the situation of other frog species. In isolated follicles, progesterone induces only germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD), while human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) induces GVBD and ovulation. In addition, defolliculated oocytes respond with GVBD to the treatment with progesterone, while hCG has no effect. As in other frogs, oocyte maturation in vitro depends on hormonal action and on the presence of divalent cations. In this frog, progesterone or a similar hormone conditions the brooding pouch for reproduction and induces pouch closure. Follicles from frogs with closed pouches showed GVBD after 15-17 hours of incubation with progesterone, while those from frogs with open pouches took 19-24 hours for GVBD. These findings suggest that follicles become stimulated for maturation when the pouch is closed and that this stimulated condition is maintained for several weeks in advance of the process of oocyte maturation. In G. riobambae, the external appearance of the pouch aperture indicates the reproductive condition of the ovary.

A trypsin-like oviducal proteinase acting upon the vitelline envelope of Bufo arenarum coelomic oocytes has been purified to apparent homogeneity by gel filtration on Sephadex G-200 and by affinity chromatography on a column of Sepharose 4-B containing covalently bound concanavlin A (Con A). The biologically active molecule migrated as a single band of protein upon SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

The mature ovary of Gastrotheca riobambae presents large oocytes (3 mm in diameter) of pale yellow color. After ovulation and the beginning of embryonic incubation, the empty postovulatory follicles can be recognized in the ovary for about 30 days. The granulosa of these follicles never fills the follicular lumen and this cavity becomes filled with fluid during the first five days of incubation. Later, at 18 days of incubation, the lumen is mostly empty and contains few cells of the granulosa. Shrinkage results in the disappearance of the follicular cavity by approximately the thirtieth day of incubation. The thecae are thick and become separated by a space. This space is filled progressively with cells, blood capillaries and fluid. After the thirtieth to fortieth day of incubation, these follicles become regressive and disappear. The postovulatory follicles of Gastrotheca may correspond to corpora lutea. The evidence suggests that pouch vascularization and the formation of embryonic chambers of pouch tissue may be under ovarian control. In addition, the process of vitellogenesis is influenced by incubation, as most growth of the ovarian oocyte occurs after birth of the tadpoles. Follicular atresia is common and is similar to that of other frogs.

The marsupial frog Gastrotheca riobambae has several reproductive adaptations, most prominent of which is the incubation of the embryo in a pouch on the mother's back. We have followed cleavage and gastrulation by microscopical observation and by vital staining, and have found several alterations in these processes which may reflect the reproductive adaptations. The large, yolky egg has a cap of yolk-poor cytoplasm at the animal pole which is incorporated into a translucent blastocoel roof consisting of a single cell layer. The epithelium of the yolk sac is derived from the roof. The inconspicuous blastoporal lips form near the vegetal pole from cells of the marginal region. Gastrulation movements include the epibolic stretching of the surface towards the blastopore and a contraction of the vegetal surface. The blastoporal lips close over a small archenteron, and the cells of the lips become the embryonic disc, a discrete group of small cells which give rise to most of the embryo's body. The great size difference between animal and vegetal blastomeres during cleavage, the single-celled blastocoel roof, the dissociation in time between archenteron formation and its expansion, the embryonic disc and the slow development distinguish G. riobambae embryos from those of other frogs. The importance of the marginal region which produces the embryonic disc and the unimportance of the most animal region whose fate is primarily yolk sac emphasizes the role of the marginal region in amphibian development.

A retrospective survey of 267 snowboarders was undertaken to determine the population at risk and types and mechanisms of injuries sustained in this sport. Snowboarders are young (average age, 21 years), male (greater than 90%), view themselves in average or above average physical condition (96%), and have varied sports interests. One hundred ten injuries that resulted in a physician visit were reported. Ligament sprains, fractures, and contusions were the most frequent types of injury. Fifty percent of all injuries occurred in the lower extremities, with ankle injuries being the most common. Snowboard riders using equipment with increased ankle support seem to be more protected from lower extremity injuries. The lower extremity injuries were concentrated in the forward limb of the snowboarder, where the rider's weight is disproportionately distributed. Differences in the mechanism and spectrum of injury between snowboarding and skiing injuries were noted, including: impact rather than torsion as the major mechanism of injury, a significant lack of thumb injuries, comparative increase in ankle injuries, a decrease in knee injuries, and a higher percentage of upper extremity injuries.

The multinucleate oocytes of Flectonotus pygmaeus begin as cysts containing 2,000 or more meiotic nuclei. Each nucleus amplifies its ribosomal DNA early in oogenesis. The level of amplification is widely different from one nucleus to another, and ranges from less than 0.1 x C to more than 8 x C. The C value for this species is 1.7 x 10(-12) g of DNA. In oocytes of about 0.5 mm diameter the nuclei sort themselves out into an outer shell of several hundred nuclei that swell up to become much larger than the nuclei that remain in the inner compact mass. Later the outer nuclei continue to swell and decrease in number while the inner nuclei disintegrate and disappear. By the time the oocyte reaches. 1.2 mm diameter there are only a few large nuclei left and each has many large nucleoli and a full set of lampbrush chromosomes. Eventually, only one germinal vesicle nucleus is left, and this has all the characteristics of the single germinal vesicles that are typical of oocytes from other amphibians. It is suggested that the sorting out of nuclei into the inner mass and the outer shell of larger nuclei in middle sized oocytes is a consequence of the positions the nuclei happen to be in at the time, but that the "contest" for the role of germinal vesicle may be won by the nucleus of the outer shell that has the highest ribosomal DNA content.

Incubation of dejellied spawned oocytes from Bufo arenarum with different lectins results in a decrease of oocyte fertility. Concanavalin A was the most effective lectin; phytohemagglutinin P and wheat germ lectin were less effective. Agglutinin from soybean was scarcely active. These lectin effects could be ascribed to a hindering of specific sites for some proteases, since the same treatment renders the oocyte vitelline envelope insensitive to spermatolysin (an essential requisite for fertilization) and to trypsin. Also in this case concanavalin A was the most effective lectin. Univalent concanavalin A was also effective in blocking the fertility of dejellied oocytes. These results indicate that the residues of alpha-D-glucose and alpha-D-mannose present in the vitelline envelope are involved in gamete interactions in Bufo arenarum. This idea is also supported by the finding that dejellied oocytes (fertilizables) have a number of binding sites for concanavalin A that is three or four orders of magnitude higher than coelomic or fertilized oocytes (both not penetrable by spermatozoa).