PERIODIC CHANGE IN THE TENSION AT THE SURFACE OF ACTIVATED NON-NUCLEATE FRAGMENTS OF SEA-URCHIN EGGS

Unfertilized eggs of the sea urchin, Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus, were separated into two fragments by centrifugal force. The enucleate fragment (merogone) was subsequently activated by treating it with butyric acid and the tension at the surface was continuously measured by a compression method. The activated merogone was found to exhibit cyclic changes in tension, with a temporal pattern very similar to that of the changes accompanying the division cycle of normally fertilized eggs. This indicates quantitatively the presence in the cytoplasm of some periodic activity which can be triggered without nuclear control. Further, a periodic thickening of the intrahyaloplasmic space of the activated merogone, as noted by Kojima (14), was confirmed on the basis of extended observation.