Ultrastructural and autoradiographic studies of mouse cleavage stages

Studies of cleavage stage mouse embryos are reported, with particular emphasis upon nucleolar fine structural and functional changes. Multiple fibrillar primary nucleoli are present in the early 2-cell embryo. In late 2-cell embryos, some of these nucleoli acquire a peripheral zone of granules, while others reticulate, forming nucleoli composed of fibrillo-granular cortices and fibrillar cores. The nucleoli of early 4-cell embryos are composed only of fibrils. In the middle of the 4-cell stage, some of the nucleoli acquire a peripheral granular zone, while others reticulate. The reticulated nucleoli of both the late 2-cell and 4-cell embryos can be considered, on the basis of their fine structure, to be definitive nucleoli. Early 8-cell and morula embryos usually contain only two definitive nucleoli per nucleus. ³H-5-uridine-pulsed embryos contain label localized in the nucleus, particularly over definitive nucleoli. Nucleolar labeling increases at each successive developmental stage. Beginning at the 8-cell stage, re-incubation in nonradioactive medium results in a significant decrease in nucleolar labeling and an increase in cytoplasmic labeling suggesting that more ribosomal RNA is transferred from the nucleus to the cytoplasm at the later cleavage stages.