Cytoplasmic flows in starfish oocytes are fully determined by cortical contractions
Fig 6
Experimentally measured cytoplasmic flows.
The flows inside the starfish oocyte can be measured using a standard PIV-algorithm. A: Only small irregular flow patterns (red arrows) can be detected as long as no surface movement is present. B: The flows point mainly from the vegetal pole to the animal pole. C: The flows now come from the equator and point in direction of both poles. D: The flow goes back towards the vegetal pole. A video of the flows for the full SCW is given in S4 Video. E-G: Quantification of the flows on the AV-axis (E) and on the perpendicular axis (F, ±1 correspond to equator right and left). The colour intensity encodes the flow velocity while the colour tone indicates the flow direction as explained by the polar colour map in G.