Summary
Cytochemical detection of surface polysaccharides on mouse parotid acinar cells was carried out by sequential incubation of fixed slices in periodic acid, thiosemicarbazide and osmium tetroxide. Mice were previously treated with isoproterenol (0.67 μmoles or 1.5 nmoles per g bd wt), pilocarpine (0.27 μmoles per g bd wt) or saline.
Parotid glands from control mice showed acinar cells with a strong positive reaction at the apical, lateral and basal surfaces. The osmium deposits on the cell surface formed parallel rows of dense granules large enough to permit an easy identification of the polysaccharides.
A low dose of isoproterenol and pilocarpine that induced only secretion, produce a slight reduction of the reactivity at the apical cell surface 30 min and 2 h after injection. No other change in the reactivity of the cell surface polysaccharides was found in the times observed.
The high dose of isoproterenol that induces secretion and cell proliferation, provoked at 30 min the same lower reactivity at the apical surface as described above. However, at 12 and 20 h after the high dose of isoproternol there is a marked decrease or no reactivity at the apical and lateral cell surfaces. At 36 h, no reactivity was observed at the apical, lateral nor basal surface.
The results presented here strongly suggest that polysaccharides are removed from the surface of acinar parotid cells, or that the cell surface is exchanged with inmature secretory vesicles, upon stimulation to secretion and cell proliferation. These polysaccharides are not affected or lost, with stimuli that induce only secretion.
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This paper is dedicated to Professor Dr. Danko Brncic on the occasion of his 30 years of academic work.
This work was supported by Research Grants #4147-R from the Servicio de Desarrollo Científico y Creación Artística, Universidad de Chile and #14-77 from the Programa Regional de Entrenamiento para Países del Area Andina RLA/047 (PNUD/UNESCO)
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Alliende, C., Leiva, S. & Galanti, N. Cytochemical detection of polysaccharides on mouse parotid acinar cells. Histochemistry 55, 139–146 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00493516
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00493516