Induction of choriogenesis by 20-hydroxyecdysone in the German cockroach

Experiments in vitro have shown that 20-hydroxyecdysone (at a concentration of 0.2 and 2 microM and after 12 and 24 hr of incubation) is able to induce the precocious deposition of chorion materials by the follicular epithelium of young oocytes of the cockroach Blattella germanica. Since previous studies had shown that 20-hydroxyecdysone levels in B. germanica ovaries increase with oocyte maturation to reach a peak just before oviposition, we therefore hypothesize that ovarian ecdysteroids trigger Choriogenesis in this species through an autocrine action.