Dihydrofolate Reductase in Starfish Oocytes and Embryos: Developmental Consequences of Its Inhibition by Methotrexate

Dihydrofolate reductase in immature oocytes of the starfish, Asterina pectinifera, is estimated to be 12 pg per oocyte. After completion of meiosis, the quantity of the enzyme is approximately 20 pg per egg. The content of the enzyme in the egg is kept nearly constant at this value from fertilization to the beginning of blastulation. Methotrexate, an analogue of dihydrofolate, at 20 μM did not affect meiotic maturational process and fertilization, but inhibited embryonic development at the 512-cell stage which corresponds to the beginning of blastulation. Incorporation of externally supplied deoxy[3 H]uridine into DNA of the embryos cultured in the continuous presence of 20 μM of methotrexate stopped at the 256-cell stage, suggesting that the cessassion of development of the embryo at the 512-cell stage was caused by inhibition of DNA synthesis at the preceding stage. Uptake of [3 H]methotrexate was low at early cleavage stages but increased just before blastulation. Externally supplied 1 mM of thymidine counteracted the inhibitory effect of methotrexate at 20 μM, suggesting that the starvation of the methotrexate-treated embryo for thymidine nucleotides halted DNA synthesis at the beginning of blastulation.