Amino Acid Correction of Regulatory Volume Decrease Evoked by Hypotonic Stress in Mouse Oocytes In Vitro

Regulatory volume decrease in response to hypotonic stress is typical of the oocytes and early mouse embryos. Changes in the kinetics of osmotic reaction can be used as a marker of the modulating effect of the incubation medium on transmembrane transport in embryonic cells. Quantitative laser scanning microtomography (QLSM) was used to measure oocyte volume. In this paper, it is shown that addition of 5 μM glycine, taurine, or GABA, as well as ATP to Dulbecco’s medium abolished the regulatory volume decrease in mature mouse oocytes.