Oocytes, hydrocarbon uptake

Fan, Y., Chase, J., Sevala, V. and Schal, C. (2002). Lipophorin-facilitated hydrocarbon uptake by oocytes in the German cockroach, Blattella germanica (L.). Journal of Experimental Biology 205 781-790. 

The best evidence of hydrocarbon transfer into cells is with oocytes. Oocyte development in cockroaches, as in most oviparous animals, is characterized by a dramatic growth period during which all maternally derived macromolecules are sequestered. Vitellogenin uptake by the oocyte has been extensively studied... 

Incubated oocytes accept hydrocarbons at similar rates from hemolymph and from purified HDLp, suggest that LTP might not be required for uptake of hydrocarbons (Fan et al., 2002). However, this idea will have to await careful experiments with LTP antibodies, as detailed above. In M. sexta LTP plays a role in delivery of lipids to the developing oocytes and the conversion of adult HDLp to VHDLp in the egg (Liu and Ryan, 1991). 

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