Effects of Acute Alcoholization on the Germ Cells of Fundulus Heteroclitus

The eggs of Fundulus heteroclitus are very susceptible to injury from treatment with low concentrations of alcohol prior to fertilization. This period seems an especially critical one in the history of the egg. 2. Two per cent. and five per cent. solutions of alcohol in sea water acting for short lengths of time prior to fertilization reduce to a marked degree the number of eggs which develop. 3. Such treatment of the eggs of Fundulus produce a number of aberrant cleavages. These seem to be due in part to an effect upon the chromatin of the egg. 4. A large proportion of the individuals which develop from eggs treated with alcohol prior to fertilization are markedly defective. 5. Twenty minutes after fertilization the eggs are much more sensitive to injury with alcohol than at one hour after fertilization and in the early cleavages. 6. The types of defects produced by these acute treatments were of all grades from aberrant cleavages to marked monsters of specific types, and others which were merely slow in their rate of development and small in size. 7. Dilute solutions of sodium hydroxide acting prior to fertilization produced in some eggs much the same effects as secured from treatments with alcohol. 8. The spermatozoa of Fundulus usually continue active for less than a minute after being stripped in one tenth of a cubic centimeter of distilled water, and in solutions of alcohol in distilled water. After complete cessation of movement in these solutions, some of the spermatozoa may be activated with a dilute sodium hydroxide solution sufficiently to fertilize an egg. 9. In one tenth of a cubic centimeter of sea water and in the weaker concentrations of alcohol in sea water, the spermatozoa live for several minutes after being stripped. After cessation of movement in these solutions the spermatozoa very rarely activate upon the addition of an alkali solution. 10. The higher concentrations of alcohol acting for short periods on the spermatozoa seem to injure many of them without depriving them of their fertilizing power. When acting for longer periods, these same concentrations, in some instances, clearly eliminate the weaker spermatozoa and the resistant ones which survive are often capable of producing normal fertilization and development.