CELL PROLIFERATION KINETICS IN GOLDFISH ACCLIMATED TO VARIOUS TEMPERATURES

Abstract
Cell proliferation has been studied in goldfish which have been acclimated to temperatures of 6, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 37°C. Hemopoietic tissue and intestinal epithelium show similar temperature effects, but they are seen more clearly in the latter. The fraction of intestinal epithelial cells labeled by a single injection of tritiated thymidine decreases as the temperature increases above 20°C. The total tissue incorporation of DNA precursor also decreases with increasing temperature. On the other hand, the grain counts per nucleus tend to increase slightly with increasing temperature. The mean generation time as indicated by the rate of DNA turnover (loss of 125I‐DNA) shows little if any change as the temperature increases above 20°C. These observations imply that in the rapidly proliferating cells of the goldfish the mitotic cycle is remarkably insensitive to temperature change, except for the DNA synthesis phase, which has a temperature dependence (Q10= 2.6) characteristic of enzyme‐mediated chemical reactions.

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