VEGETALIZATION OF SEA URCHIN LARVAE INDUCED WITH cAMP PHOSPHODIESTERASE INHIBITORS

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Abstract
Treatment of sea urchin [Anthocidaris crassispina] embryos with cAMP phosphodiesterase (PDE)-inhibitors such as caffeine (4 .times. 10-3 M), theophylline (8 .times. 10-3 M), or nicotinamide (10-2 M), at the morula stage for only a couple of hours, yields vegetalized larvae. Most of the embryos treated with these reagents before the morula stage develop to blastulae filled with mesenchyme-like cells. Almost all embryos at the blastula stage develop normally even if they are treated with a PDE-inhibitor for a considerable period. The rate of 3H-valine incorporation into protein in the morulae is reduced by caffeine and theophylline, but does not decrease in the presence of nicotinamide. Actinomycin D cancels the vegetalizing effect of PDE-inhibitors on the morulae.