Circadian rhythms of the parameters of the mouse esophagus epithelial cell kinetics

: Circadian rhythms of the mitotic activity, DNA synthesis and the parameters of the mitotic cells of the mouse esophagus epithelium were studied during the periods of maximum and minimum proliferation. The number of mitoses and DNA-synthetizing cells increases rhythmically at 1--7 a. m. from 22 p. m. to 4 a. m., respectively. When 3H-thymidine was injected to the mice at 2 a. m., tG2min was 1h; tG2+1/2 M was 2h; tS was 7.1; tG1+1/2 M was 2h; tS was 7.1; tG1+1/2 M was 15.9h. When 3H-thymidine was injected at 2 p. m., tS rose up to 8.2 and tG1+1/2 M up to 14.8h. The mitotic cycle in both series of experiments totalled 25 h. Thus, the duration of various phases of the mitotic cycle depends on the time of the day and correlates with circadian rhythms of the mitotic activity and the number of DNA-synthetizing cells. Duration of the mitotic cycle of the cells passing through it at varying time of the day is the same and approximates the period of the circadian rhythm of mitoses and DNA synthesis in esophagus epithelium.