Differential lethal effects of both cytosine arabinoside and hydroxyurea on jejunal crypt cells and testosterone-stimulated accessory sex glands.

DNA-synthesizing cells from mouse jejunal crypts and accessory sex glands respond differently to the DNA synthesis inhibitors cytosine arabinoside and hydroxyurea. A single injection of either agent brought about a rapid inhibition of thymidine labelling in both the tissues. Whilst both agents had a lethal effect upon the majority of S-phase cells in the crypts, only a minority of S-phase cells in the accessory sex glands showed evidence of necrosis. These differences are considered in the context of possible physiological differences between continually dividing cells and putative G0 cells. The accessory sex glands are normally quiescent proliferative tissues. They were stimulated to undergo DNA synthesis and later mitosis by testosterone propionate injections, commencing three days after castration. Cytosine arabinoside was the more effective cytocidal agent in the accessory sex glands, and when two injections were scheduled so as to affect a large number of DNA-synthesizing cells, a compensatory hyperplasia was evoked. In the coagulating gland, this compensatory response involved the proliferation of many cells which, in the absence of cytotoxic perturbation, would be non-proliferatie (Q cells).