Developmental and ploidy characteristics of "senescent" unfertilized eggs of Xenopus laevis

Unfertilized eggs of Xenopus laevis have been stored in a high salt physiological saline (De Boer's solution) over a period of about 24 hours. During this time, aliquots have been subjected to lowered salinity and fertilized. The stored eggs undergo a defined series of morphological changes, which are initially reversible upon fertilization. Length of storage may have little or no effect on the capacity of the eggs to undergo cleavage, but the normal developmental capacity declines with increasing storage time. Among the characteristics of this decline is a regressive cytokinesis, early arrest, and the appearance in surviving larvae of a definable syndrome of morphological type. Increasing storage times predispose the eggs to subsequent triploid development, the triploidy arising as a consequence of failure of second polar body emission. The possible interest of these findings for a model system of mammalian gamete aging is discussed.