INFLUENCE OF HAIR PLUCKING ON THE TURNOVER TIME OF THE EPIDERMAL BASAL LAYER

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Abstract
The epidermal cell kinetics of male DBA‐2 mice have been studied using tritiated thymidine. Liquid scintillation data from skin punches, taken after stimulation of hair growth by plucking, agree well with similar data from DBA‐1 mice. A technique has been devised for obtaining sheets of epidermal cells from haired mice. Labelling index values from these sheets show that epidermal proliferation increases after plucking and they agree well with values obtained from sections. Counts of cells per unit area of epidermis show that cells are removed by plucking.Using an estimated value for the length of S, the turnover time of the basal layer was calculated. The growth fraction and proliferative cell cycle time have also been estimated.