Rhythms of cell division of different periodicity in small intestinal cryptic epithelium and their contribution to circadian rhythm formation.

We used an improved method of chronobiological information processing enabling not only to detect oscillations with different frequencies, but also to determine the significance of each harmonic. This has made it possible to identify significant high-power harmonics present in the majority of cell positions in the crypt. These harmonics make the major contribution to the formation of diurnal rhythm of cell division in the crypt and hence determine spatial and temporal organization of the proliferative system in the crypt.