Effect of follicle-stimulating hormone on metabolism and maturation in Bufo arenarum oocytes.

In the fully grown Bufo arenarum oocyte, carbohydrate breakdown during the autumn-winter season is accomplished mainly through the glycolytic pathway followed by the Krebs cycle. During the breeding season (spring-summer), carbohydrates are used mainly through the pentose phosphate cycle and through the variant of the Krebs cycle known as the glutamic aspartic cycle. The metabolism operating in the oocytes was determined using the following parameters: 1) the capacity of isolated mitochondria to oxidize citrate and fumarate; 2) the enzymatic activities of phosphofructokinase (PFK) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PDH); and 3) citrate and ATP compartmentalization. The present paper shows that follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) would be one of the factors responsible for summer metabolism, since ovary fractions obtained from winter specimens treated with the hormone acquired the metabolic characteristics corresponding to oocytes obtained from breeding-season animals. From dose-response, and response in the function of time curves, it could be assumed that the optimum doses and times were 0.1 micrograms FSH/ml of incubation medium and 30 min treatment, respectively. The metabolic effect of FSH upon oocytes could be mediated by the adenylate cyclase-cAMP system, since treatment of ovaric fractions with cAMP 10(-3) M reproduced the effects obtained with the hormone. In addition, 0.02 mg/ml tetracycline proved to block the effect of FSH. A direct metabolic action of FSH on body cavity oocytes (without follicle cells) was observed when submitting these oocytes to the same hormonal treatment.