
Whether aiding in early growth and development, ensuring a healthy nervous system or guarding the body from illness, zinc plays an important role in the human body.
Husband-and-wife team, Thomas O’Halloran and Teresa Woodruff, plus other researchers at Northwestern University, evaluated the role that zinc plays in healthy fertilization
. The study revealed how mouse eggs gather and release billions of zinc atoms at once in events called zinc sparks. These fluxes in zinc concentration are essential in regulating the biochemical processes that facilitate the egg-to-embryo transition.
The scientists developed a series of techniques to determine the amount and location of zinc atoms during an egg cell’s maturation and fertilization as well as in the following two hours. Special imaging methods allowed the researchers to also visualize the movement of zinc sparks in three dimensions. Continue reading “Zinc’s Role in Healthy Fertilization”