Comparison of intradermal injections of bromodeoxyuridine and tritiated thymidine in the in vivo measurement of epidermal cell turnover time in goats.

Study of keratinisation defects such as seborrhoea may require investigation of epidermal cell kinetics in clinical cases. For this to be practically useful a safe, reliable and quick method is essential. This study compared epidermal cell kinetics in the goat following the use of intradermal injection of tritiated thymidine ([3H]TdR) and bromodeoxyuridine (BURD) to label S phase nuclei. Turnover time for goat epithelial cells was not significantly different for the two agents; 26.3 +/- 6.0 days for thymidine and 21.8 +/- 5.2 days for BURD. It was concluded that intradermal injection of BURD will be a suitable technique for investigating epidermal cell kinetics in vivo and could have applications in a clinical situation because it is quicker and safer than [3H]TdR.