EFFECT OF MECHANICAL STIMULATION ON CELL PROLIFERATION IN MOUSE EPIDERMIS AND ON GROWTH REGULATION BY ENDOGENOUS FACTORS (CHALONES)

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Abstract
Mechanical stimulation of dorsal mouse skin by skin massage or removal of the horny layer results in a mutually comparable increase in DNA-labeling and mitotic activity. Only after injury, such as removal of the horny layer, does hyperplasia develop. This phenomenon, called hyperplastic transformation, is characterized by a transient abolition of the epidermal G1 chalone responsiveness. There is some indication that the susceptibility to a heat labile factor, probably the epidermal G2 chalone, is not affected. Skin massage neither interferes with the responsiveness to epiderman G1 chalone nor induces hyperplastic transformation. Mouse tail epidermis shows a functional hyperplasia and responds to the G1 chalone. To explain these observations, it is assumed that the epidermal stem cell population is heterogeneous consisting of G1 chalone-sensitive and G1 chalone-insensitive cells.