EFFECTS OF VARIOUS PROTEASE INHIBITORS ON STARFISH OOCYTE MATURATION

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Abstract
Effects of various protease inhibitors on starfish oocyte maturation were examined. N-Benzoyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester, a synthetic substrate for chymotrypsin, was the most potent inhibitor of the oocyte maturation among the synthetic protease inhibitors examined. Chymostatin, an inhibitor specific for chymotrypsin-like serine proteases and some thiol proteases, was the most potent inhibitor among the inhibitors of microbial origin examined. Chymostatin did not inhibit maturation induced by the injection of maturation promoting factor (MPF). It exerted its inhibitory effect only when it was applied within the hormone-dependent (H.D.) period (the minimum period wherein 1-methyladenine is required). Exposure of oocytes for 1 min to chymostatin at different times during the H.D. period demonstrated that the most potent inhibition occurred in the latter part of this period. A chymotrypsin-like serine protease probably exists in oocytes and is involved in the formation of maturation promoting factor later in the period.

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