Cyclic cytoplasmic activity of non-nucleate egg fragments of Xenopus controls the morphology of injected sperms.

Triton X-100-treated sperms were injected into non-nucleate egg fragments of Xenopus laevis to determine whether the structure of the injected sperm nucleus is affected by the cyclic activity of the cytoplasm. Swollen vesicular nuclei were very frequently observed when the sperms were injected and incubated during the 'rounding-up' phase of the recipient fragment, whereas no such structures were found when they were incubated during the 'relaxing' phase.