1957 Volume 13 Issue 3 Pages 391-399
The author, who has previously investigated the secretory function of the parotid gland cells when histamine in the blood was increased by injections of 3mg of histamine hydrochloride daily for the periods of 1, 15, 30, 45 and 60 days, has now attempted to observe the secretory function of the submandibular gland cells under the conditoin in which histamine increased in the blood and an anti-histamic action of the parotid saliva, which has previously been demonstrated by FUJIE, was perfectly excepted. For this purpose, the author has extirpated the parotid glands totally, because the experimental result in which the remarkable increase of histamine in the blood according to the total extirpation of the parotid glands was demonstrated, has been reported by NAKAO.
It was concluded from the observations on the quantitative fluctuation of the secretion vacuoles in the gland cells, on the form of plastosomes, on the size augmentation of the cell nuclei, on the dilatation of the gland lumen, the intercalated portion or the striated duct and on the contents in them, that the secretory function (the production and the discharge of the secretory substance) of the submandibular gland cells had become active, regardless of the administration of diet, after the extirpation of the parotid gland, and that it greatly resembled the cell function of the parotid gland cells, which the author formerly observed. However the nucleic acid in the nuclei of the submandibular gland cells, which is believed to participate in the compound of the secretory substance in the cells, increased less than in the nuclei of the parotid gland cells. Here it is noticed that the secretion of the former gland cells may differ from the one of the latter gland cells, though the cells of both glands are serous cells of the same kind.
According to these conclusions, it is regarded on the one hand that, if the parotid gland were perfectly extirpated, the saliva secreted in the oral cavity seems to be compensated by the submandibular gland, and on the other hand that, it should not cause wonder if a difference between the parotid and submandibular saliva can be found in the internal secretion theory of the salivary gland (OGATA) and in the anti-histamic action theory of saliva (FUJIE).
