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One of the ovarian most significant role is to produce new ova (eggs) to pass a life into next generation. The fully grown ova, which have the ability to be fertilized, are released from the ovary. This process is called ovulation. The process known as follicle rupture has been a subject of intensive investigation over the past century. Previous studies have established that the action of proteolytic enzymes are essential for this process. Despite much effort, the whole picture about ovulation is still not clear. Recently, for the first time in vertebrates, we succeeded in identifying the enzymes that are critically involved in ovulation using medaka fish. We strongly believe this discovery as a huge step forward for our efforts to identify mechanism of ovulation in mammals. We try to identify the mammalian ovulatory enzymes using mouse as an experimental model.

As we have identified the mechanism of ovulation in the medaka, we intend to further expand our search for the regulation of expression of the hydrolytic enzymes and other factors involved in ovulation. To date, there are no available information about gene regulation during ovulation due to the lack of knowledge on ovulatory enzymes. In this study, to reveal the mechanisms for controlling the ovulation, we try to identify the regulatory proteins of the ovulatory enzyme genes. This becomes the first study of this kind in vertebrates and may elucidate a common mechanism to all vertebrates.

References

See the following web site.