Meiosis activating sterols (MAS) and fertility in mammals and man

In mammals two meiosis activating sterols (MAS) have been found to activate meiotic resumption in mouse oocytes, in vitro. FF-MAS (4, 4-dimethyl-5alpha-cholesta-8,14,24-triene-3beta-ol) was extracted from human preovulatory follicular fluid and T-MAS (4, 4-dimethyl-5alpha-cholest-8,24-diene-3beta-ol) from bull testicular tissue. Quite unexpected, these two sterols, which introduce the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway from lanosterol, may be locally acting substances with important physiological function for reproduction. FF-MAS and T-MAS are present in the preovulatory follicular fluid of different mammalian species and have the capacity to initiate resumption of meiosis in mouse oocyte cultured in the presence of hypoxanthine, a natural meiosis maturation inhibitor. FF-MAS is produced by the cumulus cells of intact oocyte-cumulus complexes upon FSH-stimulation and provides the oocyte with a go-signal for the resumption of meiosis. T-MAS constitutes the vast majority of MAS found in the mammalian testis and in the human ejaculate; in particular a high concentration is found in the spermatozoa. T-MAS may be produced by the spermatids and the presence of T-MAS in spermatozoa may suggest that T-MAS plays a role in fertilization by affecting the second meiotic division.J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 285:237-242, 1999.