Bio-Electric Transients during Fertilisation

Abstract

IN 1909 R. S. Lillie¹ suggested that the activation of the unfertilised egg by a spermatozoon or by a parthenogenetic agent might involve the temporary depolarisation of the cell surface, the process being similar to that observed in stimulated nerve or muscle. This so-called physical theory of fertilisation and parthenogenesis has been elaborated by Gray², who differs from Lillie in considering that there is no recovery after the depolarisation as there is in nerve, muscle and certain plant cells. Confirmatory evidence of this has been produced by Gray³, who has shown that fertilised sea-urchin eggs have a higher conductivity than unfertilised eggs. (These results have recently been criticised on theoretical grounds by Cole⁴.)