Ultrastructural studies of keratinized epithelia of the mouse. III. Determination of the volumes of nuclei and cytoplasm of cells in murine epidermis.

Simple morphometric analyses were applied to mouse epidermal specimens prepared for electrom microscopy. Mean values were obtained for the dimensions of cells and nuclei in basal, suprabasal, and granular layers. These measurements were applied to simplified models representing the shapes of cells in the three strata. A fourfold increase in cytoplasmic volume was observed as cells passed from the basal to granular layers. During this transition, the nuclear volume did not decrease significantly.