Occurs in tissues with cells that are capable of mitotic division-hyperplasia refers to an increase in the number of cells in an organ or tissue. it occrs in tissues with cells that are capable of mitotic division, such as the epidermis, intestinal epithelium, and glandular tissue. nerve cells and skeletal and cardiac muscle cells do not divide and therefore have no capacity for hyerplastic growth. there is evidence that hyperplasia involves activation of genes controlling cell proliferation. as with other normal adaptive cellular responses, hyperplasia is a controlled process that occurs in response to an appropriate stimulus and ceases after the stimulus has been removed (p. 31).