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Generation Time of Epithelial Cells in the Human Colon

Abstract

THE duration of the mitotic cycle in intestinal epithelial cells of rodents has been measured by radioautography after tritiated thymidine1,2. Proliferating jejunal and colonic epithelial cells in rodents have total generation times of about 18 hr., DNA synthesis (S phase) times of 5–8 hr., and pre-mitosis (G2) and mitosis times of 1.5–2 hr. In man, investigations of mitotic indices and autoradiographic studies with tritiated thymidine have suggested turnover times of intestinal epithelial cells of several days3.

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References

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LIPKIN, M., SHERLOCK, P. & BELL, B. Generation Time of Epithelial Cells in the Human Colon. Nature 195, 175–177 (1962). https://doi.org/10.1038/195175b0

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