Identity of a population of progenitor cells in gingival connective tissue of the mouse incisor.

In the gingiva of the mouse incisor, connective tissue cells were observed which were undergoing mitosis and contained collagen fibrils enclosed in vacuoles in their cytoplasm. The presence of intracellular collagen was noted in the majority of the dividing cells. On the basis of this observation it is suggested that renewal of the fibroblast population in the gingiva occurs preferentially by division of differentiated fibroblasts rather than by division of cells with a lower degree of differentiation.