Label-retaining keratinocytes and Langerhans cells in mouse epithelia.

Slowly cycling cells in murine epithelia can be marked by their retention of a tritiated-thymidine nuclear label. The position and identity of such label-retaining cells in palatal and lingual epithelia and ear epidermis was examined using autoradiography and histochemistry. They were found to be either (a) basally positioned keratinocytes preferentially occupying sites within units of epithelial structure that correspond to those expected for epithelial stem cells, or (b) nonkeratinocytes of the Langerhans cell type which lie suprabasally except in the epidermis where they are present in low numbers and occupy a similar position to label-retaining keratinocytes.