ROLE OF PROGESTERONE IN MATURATIONAL STAGES OF OCTOPUS VULGARIS GAMETES

摘要

The "vertebrate" sex steroids have been found to play a role in reproduction among invertebrates. Differently from vertebrates, the main steroids involved in the regulation of reproduction, progesterone and 176-estradiol, seem to play less clearly differentiated roles. Recently, Di Cosmo et al. (1998) have characterized and immunolocalized progesterone receptor in the reproductive system of the female of Octopus vulgaris suggesting a role of this sex steroid and its receptor in the hormonal control of the reproduction of Octopus vulgaris. It is well known that progesterone is an agent promoting calcium elevation through calcium influx in male gametes (Tosti et al., 2001). However nothing is known on progesterone action in oocytes. In this frame we start to study the role of progesterone on the pre-activation/activation cephalopods gametes.