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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Aug 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Chem. 2014 Dec 15;7(2):130–139. doi: 10.1038/nchem.2133

Figure 2. Labile zinc is cortically localized in the oocyte and tracks with cortical granule staining.

Figure 2

(a) Schematic of meiotic maturation. GV oocytes in the ovary are arrested at prophase I (PI) of meiosis. Upon hormonal signaling, maturation begins and the cell progresses through meiosis until it arrests at metaphase II (MII), at which point the egg is competent for fertilization. Intervening stages during maturation include germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD), metaphase I (MI) and Telophase I/Anaphase I (TI/AI).

(b) (i–v) Samples at GV, GVBD, MI, AI, MII were labeled with the zinc-specific probe ZincBY-1 (50 nM, green) to track labile zinc and counterstained with Hoechst 33342 to label DNA (blue).

(vi–x) Following zinc imaging, cells were fixed and stained for cortical granules using fluorescently labeled Lens culinaris agglutinin (LCA, red) and counterstained for DNA with DAPI (blue). Staining patterns for zinc and LCA are similar at each stage of maturation, suggesting that zinc-enriched structures may represent the same vesicles as, or comprise a subpopulation of the cortical granules. Representative optical confocal sections for each meiotic stage is shown. At least five oocytes were visualized at each stage in three independent experiments. Scale bars = 25 µm. * represents an adjacent oocyte.