ArticleACS chemical biology2011
Zinc sparks are triggered by fertilization and facilitate cell cycle resumption in mammalian eggs.
Article in ACS chemical biology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 125 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
125 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 249 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Extracellular zinc acts as a dynamic extracellular regulator of fertilization in Xenopus laevis†.Biology of reproduction · 2026Article
- Rosamine derivatives ofOrganic & biomolecular chemistry · 2026Article
- Single-cell trajectory inference for detecting transient events in biological processes.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Impact of Nutrition on Embryo Production in Cattle: Mechanistic Insights.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Review
- What we could not have known: ovarian cycles, follicle development, and the signature of life.Molecular human reproduction · 2026Review
- The oocyte zinc transportereLife · 2025Article
- Article
- Sperm navigation in humans: a concerted action of multiple means.Communications biology · 2025Review
- Enhanced Binding of ZnInorganic chemistry · 2025Article
- The TRPV3 channel is a mediator of zinc influx and homeostasis in murine oocytes.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- The Arcana of Zinc.The Journal of nutrition · 2025Review
- Zinc transporter ZnT3/Slc30a3 has a potential role in zinc ion influx in mouse oocytes.The Journal of reproduction and development · 2024Article
- On the genesis and unique functions of zinc neuromodulation.Journal of neurophysiology · 2024Review
- Cellular zinc status alters chromatin accessibility and binding of p53 to DNA.Life science alliance · 2024Article
- Determination of metal ion transport rate of human ZIP4 using stable zinc isotopes.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2024Article
- Advances in Organic Fluorescent Probes for Intracellular ZnMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Review
- Molecular Mechanism of Oocyte Activation in Mammals: Past, Present, and Future Directions.Biomolecules · 2024Review
- Cellular zinc metabolism and zinc signaling: from biological functions to diseases and therapeutic targets.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2024Review
65 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
In last few hours of maturation, the mouse oocyte takes up over twenty billion zinc atoms and arrests after the first meiotic division, until fertilization or pharmacological intervention stimulates cell cycle progression toward a new embryo. Using chemical and physical probes, we show that fertilization of the mature, zinc-enriched egg triggers the ejection of zinc into the extracellular milieu in a series of coordinated events termed zinc sparks. These events immediately follow the well-established series of calcium oscillations within the activated egg and are evolutionarily conserved in several mammalian species, including rodents and nonhuman primates. Functionally, the zinc sparks mediate a decrease in intracellular zinc content that is necessary for continued cell cycle progression, as increasing zinc levels within the activated egg results in the reestablishment of cell cycle arrest at metaphase. The mammalian egg thus uses a zinc-dependent switch mechanism to toggle between metaphase arrest and resumption of the meiotic cell cycle at the initiation of embryonic development.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.