Relationships between Abelson tyrosine kinase (c-abl) and spindle during meiotic division in mouse oocyte in vitro

The c-Abl gene is a nonreceptor tyrosine kinase that has roles in cell growth, control of the cell cycle, initiation of pronuclear movement and actin cytoskeleton dynamics. The present study has examined the localization of c-Abl protein during oocyte activation in mouse in vitro . Confocal immunofluorescence analysis showed that c-Abl originates at the cortex with a crescent shape before the activation and continues up along both sides of the cortex after activation during meiotic division until pronuclear stage. These results demonstrate that c-Abl may play role in asymmetric division of the egg to produce polar body, positioning of the spindle, and may regulate the microtubule cytoskeleton or have some roles in this process.