[Studies on DNA content of tissues and organs. 1st communication: changes in cell content of some mesenchymal and parenchymatous rat organs during development, maturation, and in part aging (determinations of DNA) (author's transl)].
In this study the cell content was analyzed by means of the DNA content of certain mesenchymal and parenchymal organs of the rat. The main aspects were the postnatal stages of development and maturation. Their correlation to aging was examined only on examples, so was their correlation to the prenatal development (on 2 examples: liver and skin). One important result of this research is that a gradual reduction in the exponential growth takes place with increasing maturation and development. The "growth by production" prevails over the "growth by division" (of cells). This is the explanation for the "relative" (= apparent) decrease in the cell content of the tissues and organs analyzed during the decisive postnatal development and maturation phases. In this period the complete differentiation of the cytoplasmic structures and of the differentiation products of the tissues and organs here analyzed occurs. This leads to a shift in their relative amounts to the disadvantage of the cell nuclei, which prevailed in the total weight of tissues and organs during the early phases of development. This concerns determinations of the DNA content related to wet weight even more than such of the DNA content related to dry weight. As already shown clearly, the different tissues and organs of the mammalian organism (here on the example of the rat) grow, mature and age differently. During growth different phases can be distinguished, too, by analysis of the DNA content which partly correlate with phases of growth which were differentiated morphologically. Determinations of DNA contents are necessary as parameters for determinations of the production metabolism (e.g. activities of enzymes, products of formation and differentiation) of the different tissues and organs during their development, maturation and aging.