A stathmokinetic study on the ruminal epithelium of sheep.

The metaphase arresting method using colchicine was applied to a kinetic study of the proliferation of sheep ruminal epithelium. Mitotic rate, calculated from the regression coefficient of the metaphase accumulation, was 0.0025 mitoses/cell per hour. Assuming the cell cycle time is about 24 hours as reported by Goodlad (1981), the growth fraction was calculated to be about 9%. The validity of the stathmokinetic method for ruminal cell kinetics is discussed.