Rate of cell division in atypias and invasive carcinoma of the uterine cervix of the mouse.

The rate of cell division during a 6-hour period was determined in cervical epithelia from 64 normal mice, 26 mice with cervical atypias, and 8 mice with invasive carcinomas. Cervical atypias and carcinomas were induced by local application of benzo[a]pyrene (BP), and mitosis was arrested with colchicine. Values for the ratio of dividing basal cells to total dividing cells and for the rates of basal cell division for the 6-hour period were both significantly greater in normal epithelia than in atypias, and these values for atypias were greater than those for invasive carcinomas. The differences were not estrous cycle-dependent. There was no evidence that the mechanism of host invasion by squamous tumor cells was due to an increased number of cells in mitoses. The occurrence of areas with mitotic activity suggested the existence of focally distributed and probably alternating, synchronous cell production in normal cervical epithelium. This property was apparently not altered by topical BP application or by carcinogenesis.