F. Parillo et al., CHARACTERIZATION OF THE COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES IN THE ZONA-PELLUCIDA OF MAMMALIAN OOCYTES USING LECTIN HISTOCHEMISTRY, Veterinary research communications, 20(3), 1996, pp. 225-236
The objective of this study was to characterize the glycoconjugates pr
esent in the zona pellucida of the follicular oocytes in sheep, goats
and pigs. The zona pellucida was stained with periodic acid-Schiff, lo
w iron diamine, high iron diamine, and nine different lectin horseradi
sh conjugates: Con-A, SBA, DBA, PNA, RCA-I, GSA-II, WGA, LTA and UEA-I
. Staining with DBA, PNA, SBA and RCA-I was performed with and without
saponification with KOH and sialidase digestion. The results showed t
he presence of neutral and acidic glycoconjugates with different termi
nal sugars and also sialic acid radicals in the zona pellucida of all
the animals studied. In particular, the positive staining with WGA, SB
A, PNA and RCA-I suggests the presence of oligosaccharides with N-acet
yl-D-glucosamine and sialic acid linked to the penultimate beta-N-acet
yl-D-galactosamine and to the disaccharide galactosyl-(beta 1-3)-N-ace
tyl-D-galactosamine. The terminal trisaccharide sialic acid galactosyl
-(beta 1-4)-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine was identified only in the zona pel
lucida of ovine and porcine oocytes. Thus, the zona pellucida exhibite
d species-specific variations in the content and distribution of lecti
n-binding patterns that may reflect the species specificity of gamete
interaction.