Deoxyribonucleic Acid Content of Basal Cells of Mouse Epidermis

Abstract

STUDIES on mouse-ear and body-skin epidermis have led Gelfant1,2 to the conclusion that there are two distinct populations of epidermal cells, one with a G2 period of a few hours, the other with a G2 period as long as five days. Bullough3 has commented on the work of Gelfant and stated that his results are statistically inadequate. In view of the general uniformity in length of the G2 period in mammalian cells studied so far4 of approximately 2–4 h, the existence of a population of cells with an unusually long G2 period is of some importance. It seemed worth while, therefore, to determine the distribution of DNA levels in epidermal cells, using a densitometric method, since a pronounced peak would be found at the tetraploid level if a sizeable population of cells were in the G2 state.