Abstract
Extract: Enlargement and functionl alterations of salivary glands were sutdied in male rats of the Sprague-Dawley strain fed a diet contaning 4% pancreatin for 3 weeks. The weight of the parotid and submaxillary glands increased 1.7 and 2.7 times, respectively. When rats were fed 4% pancreation heated to 100% for 3 h no enlargement of the glands occurred; sililary, gastric intubation of the 4% pancreatin preparation had no effect on the size of the salivary glands. A marked increase in enlargement of the salivary gland occurred in rats fed 4% pancreatin and given subcutaneous injections of 5 mg theophylline twice daily. The functional alterations of the salivary glands included: a) parotid: salivary flow rates in response to the intravenous injection of a standard dose pilocarpine (0.1 mg/100 g body weight) were slightly lower in expermental rats than those observed in the parotid glands of control rats; sodium and calcium concentrations were higher in the saliva of expermenal rats than in the saliva of controls; potassium concentrations did not differ; rats fed heated pancreatin had no ministration of the standard dose of pilocarpine were significantly lower than those in the control rats; sodium, potassium and calcium concentraions were higher in the saliva of experimental rats than in the saliva of control rats at conmparable flow rates; the salivary protein concentrations were higher. In rats fed the 4% pancreatin preparation, the saliva of both glands exhibited marked changes in the electrophoretic patterns of excretion of basic secretory proteins.
The similarities of these structural and functional changes observed in rats fed pancreation and those observed in patients with cystic fibrosis of the pancreas (CFP) suggest that a similar mechanism may be responsible in both cases. Study of this mechanism, particularly the biochemical events of intracelluar transmission of neurogenic stimuli and their chemical mediators such as cycle AMP, may help clarify the pathogenesis of CFP.
Speculation: The sialadentrophic and functional effects observed in the salivary glands of rats when pancreatin was added to the feeds are similar to the change observed in the salivary glands of patients with cystic fibrosis of the pancreas (CFP). The action of these preparations depends on a neural reflex mechanism involving the autonomic nerve suplly to the glands. A similar alteration involving the transmission of stimuli from the autonomic nervous system to the secretory elements of exocrine glands may be pat of the mechanism of pathogenesis of CFP.
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Mangos, J., Benke, P. & McSherry, N. Salivary Gland Enlargement and Functional Changes During Feeding of Pancreatin to Rats: (Possible Relation to Functional Changes in Cystic Fibrosis). Pediatr Res 3, 562–570 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-196911000-00006
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-196911000-00006