PROLIFERATION KINETICS IN EPITHELIUM OF GUINEA‐PIG COLON

The distribution of mitotic, DNA synthesizing and mature goblet cells along crypts of different length, situated in various regions of the colonic wall circumference, was determined. the distribution of proliferating cells can be approximated by a normal curve, and the distribution of mature goblet cells by an exponential curve. Some of the parameters of the distributions, different for various crypt classes, are shown to have common values when normalized by dividing them by the crypt length in a given class. the results are considered as indicating the manifestation of two levels of control of proliferation: one establishing the common pattern of the distributions along different crypts, and the second causing the differences in distributions depending on the region of the colonic wall.