Aspects of the development of yolk spheres in the hen's oöcyte, studied by electron microscopy
The yolk of the hen's egg is composed mainly of proteins, lipids and water (see reviews by Bellairs, 1964; Williams, 1966). It consists essentially of yolk spheres floating in an aqueous protein medium (Grodziński, 1939; Bellairs, 1961). The raw materials from which the yolk is formed are synthesized in the liver of the laying hen and pass from there in the blood to the ovary (see reviews by Romanoff, 1960; Bellairs, 1964). Each oöcyte is enclosed in a capsule of follicle cells, and all the raw materials pass through this capsule before they enter the oöcyte. The morphological changes that take place within the oöcyte as the yolk spheres form have been described previously by light microscopists who have produced a variety of theories to explain their observations. Formerly, it was supposed that yolk arose in the so-called ‘yolk nucleus’, or Balbiani body, which lies alongside the cell nucleus, but few would subscribe to this theory now.