Mammalian cortical granules contain two polypeptides (p62 and p56) that are incorporated into the cortical granule envelope after fertilization and function in cleavage of the zygote and the preimplantation blastomeres. Since the echinoderm hyaline layer and mammalian cortical granule envelope are analogous, and since the hyaline layer protein, hyalin, functions in early echinoderm embryogenesis, this study was done to determine whether p62 and p56 and/or other components of the mammalian cortical granule envelope are related to hyalin. A polyclonal antibody (IL2) against purified S. purpuratus hyalin was shown by confocal scanning laser microscopy to bind to hamster cortical granules and to the cortical granule envelope of fertilized hamster oocytes and preimplantation embryos up to the blastocyst stage. In immunoblots, IL2 bound only to 62- and 56-kDa cortical granule proteins that were incorporated into the cortical granule envelope after fertilization. IL2 binding antigens appeared to be resynthesized by preimplantation embryos starting at the 2-cell stage of development. In vivo treatment of 2-cell-stage hamster embryos with IL2 inhibited blastomere cleavage, but treatment of morulae did not inhibit blastocyst implantation. These results support the idea that the mammalian cortical granule envelope proteins, p62/p56, share a common antigenic epitope(s) with echinoderm hyalin, and that p62/p56, like hyalin, play a role in early embryogenesis.