Mitosis in the corneal epithelium. A preliminary communication on the coexistence of differential and equivalent cell divisions.

The morphology and orientation of cytokinetic figures were studied in the rat corneal epithelium by light microscopy using serial semi-thick plastic sections. It has been found that the mitotising cell of the basal epithelial layer produces either a pair of morphologically similar daughter cells--equivalent or symmetrical division or a pair of morphologically dissimilar cells--differential or asymmetrical division. The equivalent divisions are horizontally orientated, whereas the differential divisions are oblique or vertical in relation to the basement membrane.