Reproductive Medicine Group, Laboratory of Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709, USA.
Mol Reprod Dev. 2012 Nov;79(11):742-56. doi: 10.1002/mrd.22078. Epub 2012 Sep 28.
Calcium (Ca(2+) ) signals drive the fundamental events surrounding fertilization and the activation of development in all species examined to date. Initial studies of Ca(2+) signaling at fertilization in marine animals were tightly linked to new discoveries of bioluminescent proteins and their use as fluorescent Ca(2+) sensors. Since that time, there has been rapid progress in our understanding of the key functions for Ca(2+) in many cell types and of the impact of cellular localization on Ca(2+) signaling pathways. In this review, which focuses on mammalian egg activation, we consider how Ca(2+) is regulated and stored at different stages of oocyte development and examine the functions of molecules that serve as both regulators of Ca(2+) release and effectors of Ca(2+) signals. We then summarize studies exploring how Ca(2+) directs downstream effectors mediating both egg activation and later signaling events required for successful preimplantation embryo development. Throughout this review, we focus attention on how localization of Ca(2+) signals influences downstream signaling events, and attempt to highlight gaps in our knowledge that are ripe for future research.
钙（Ca(2+)）信号驱动着受精和所有已研究物种的发育激活的基本事件。在海洋动物受精过程中对 Ca(2+)信号的最初研究与生物发光蛋白的新发现及其作为荧光 Ca(2+)传感器的应用紧密相关。自那时以来，我们对 Ca(2+)在许多细胞类型中的关键功能以及细胞定位对 Ca(2+)信号通路的影响的理解取得了快速进展。在这篇重点关注哺乳动物卵激活的综述中，我们考虑了 Ca(2+)在卵母细胞发育的不同阶段是如何被调节和储存的，并研究了作为 Ca(2+)释放调节剂和 Ca(2+)信号效应物的分子的功能。然后，我们总结了探讨 Ca(2+)如何指导下游效应物的研究，这些效应物介导卵激活和随后的信号事件，对于成功的胚胎植入前发育是必需的。在整篇综述中，我们关注 Ca(2+)信号的定位如何影响下游信号事件，并试图突出我们知识中的空白点，这些空白点为未来的研究提供了契机。
