Ecdysteroids in Developing ovarian follicles of Hyalophora cecropia

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Abstract
Developing ovarian follicles of the silkmoth Hyalophora cecropia accumulate large amounts of ecdysteroids during oogenesis. As measured by an ecdysteroid radioimmunoassay (RIA), this accumulation begins near the end of vitellogenesis, just prior to nurse cell collapse, and continues through the beginning of chorion formation. Analysis of ovarian ecdysteroids by a combination of high‐performance liquid chromatography and RIA demonstrates that the major proportion of these are present in a highly polar form, most likely as conjugates; ecdysone and 20‐hydroxyecdysone were present as well, in much lower proportions. Light microscopic autoradiographs of photoactivated follicles after in vivo incubation with [3H]ecdysone indicate that within the oocyte ecdysteroids are associated with the yolk sphere membranes.