Abstract
Mammalian eggs and embryos are enclosed and presumably protected by an extracellular shell termed the zona pellucida (Fig. 4-1). There has been intense interest in the zona pellucida in recent years because of increased recognition of the importance of the zona in fertilization and because of the developments of methods to isolate zonae pellucidae, to assay sperm binding to zonae, and to quantitatively access the acrosomal status of spermatozoa. Although there are numerous conflicting reports concerning the mechanism of sperm-zona binding and the role of the zona in the acrosome reaction, many workers now believe that one universal concept explains the function of the zona pellucida in these events. Briefly, this concept holds that sperm do not undergo the acrosome reaction until they bind to the zona pellucida and that one of the three macromolecules that compose the zona pellucida, ZP3, is responsible for sperm binding to the zona pellucida, as well as the initiation of the acrosome reaction. Because of the intense interest in the zona pellucida, its structure and function have been much discussed and recently reviewed in detail [1, 2]. What can I add to these good recent reviews without reiterating what can be found elsewhere?
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Phillips, D.M. (1991). Structure and Function of the Zona Pellucida. In: Familiari, G., Makabe, S., Motta, P.M. (eds) Ultrastructure of the Ovary. Electron Microscopy in Biology and Medicine, vol 9. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3944-5_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3944-5_4
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