[Effect of various factors on the mitotic activity of corneal epithelium of mice]

The results of this work carried out in cell populations of mice corneal epithelium have shown the diurnal rhythm of the cell mitotic activity (MA) to be highly dependent upon experimental conditions, seasonal and diurnal regulation. The studied factors have been established to cause dynamic shifts in the kinetics of MA. Comparison of the pattern of the MA curve for the whole cell population with that for the subpopulation of labeled cells shows difference in their forms. These results cast some doubts on the validity of studies of the MA regimen while using some general criterion of index methods for the whole cell population irrespectively of the difference between the mitotic indices of their subgroups. Such method of evaluation is likely to introduce errors in its results. These errors may have their origin in diurnal flutuations of the mitotic duration, the beginning and end of the cell periods of immobility and in a loss of synchronism in the cell population.