Kinetics of cell replication of the uterine cervix. I. Normal epithelium.

The rate of cell production in the squamous cervical epithelium, as deduced from the number of arrested mitoses at various time intervals after a single injection of vincristine, was investigated in 83 C57B1 mice. In the basal cell layer several peaks of arrested mitoses were registered: the first major peak was found at 9 hours, the second at 12 hours, the third at 16 hours and the fourth at 20 hours. Distinct peaks of arrested mitosis were also found in the nonbasal (parabasal) cell layers. Each mitotic peak may correspond to a number of cells that had entered the proliferative pool from the "resting" compartment. The stathmokinetic effect of vincristine on the squamous cervical epithelium had ceased after 20 hours.