Functional analysis of CD9 molecule and oocyte microvilli in fertilization by novel non-invasive imaging method.

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In this study, I focus on the function of CD9 molecule and egg microvilli in mammalian fertilization. For that, I set two goals as 1) Analysis of fertilization ability of microvilli less mutant egg, and 2) Visualization of egg microvilli by using novel non-invasive imaging method. As a result until 2011, 1) I have obtained the data which strongly suggesting that the eggs without two of essential genes for constructing microvilli don't have fertilizing ability in vivo. And 2) I have established the imaging system which enable us to visualize egg microvilli in living form. By using the imaging system, I additively succeeded in visualizing the process of sperm-egg fusion in real-time scale for the first time.