The epidermal proliferative unit: the possible role of the central basal cell.

Abstract

ABSTRACTA model is suggested for the organization of the epidermis based on the ordered structure of the differentiating layers, as demonstrated by published work. This ordered structure enables one to look through the epidermis at the basal cell nuclei and to see their arrangement beneath the differentiating column of cells. In dorsal skin from male DBA‐2 mice there are 10.6 basal nuclei beneath a column of cells. The central nucleus of the group responds slightly earlier and more effectively than the rest to stimulation, is cycling more slowly than the majority of the basal nuclei and may spend significant periods of time out of cycle.The skin appears to contain a series of fairly independent proliferative units, each of which contain ten or eleven basal nuclei and eight to ten superficial cells of which only the youngest one or two retain their nuclei. At the centre of each group of basal nuclei is a cell that behaves differently from the rest and which is present in the skin in numbers compatible with the number of clonogenic cells. It is suggested that this represents the basic stem cell of the unit.