Effect of adrenalectomy on diurnal rhythm of number of DNA-synthesizing and dividing cells in the mouse lingual epithelium

Abstract

Diurnal changes in the number of DNA-synthesizing cells and in the number of mitoses were studied in the lingual epithelium of intact and adrenalectomized mice. After adrenalectomy partial desynchronization of mitotic cell division, a decrease in the amplitude of variations in the mitotic index during the 24-h period, and lengthening of the period of increase in the number of mitoses began to occur. The mean diurnal mitotic index in the stratum basale of the lingual epithelium was the same in the control and the experimental series. The rhythm of DNA synthesis in the adrenalectomized mice was the same as in the control. Adrenalectomy thus disturbs the diurnal rhythm of the number of mitoses in the lingual epithelium but does not affect the rhythm of DNA synthesis or the level of proliferative activity.