Reaction of the rat submandibular salivary gland to injury to the contralateral gland

Abstract

After burns of resection of the submandibular salivary gland the intact contralateral gland in rats responds by increased proliferative activity. The number of mitoses reached a maximum 72 h after injury in the case of burns and 48 h after resection. Burns of the salivary gland cause lasting but weak compensatory hypertrophy of the contralateral gland. Hypertrophy of the gland is accompanied by an increase in size of the cells and nuclei, the area of which rises by 10 and 17% respectively. Resection of the salivary gland causes an increase in weight of the intact gland only in the early period of observation; by the 30th and 45th days after the operation the weight of the experimental glands was not significantly different from the control. Differences in compensatory growth of the intact glands observed after two types of injury of the contralateral gland evidently depend on the quantity of tissue breakdown products and the duration of their presence in the body.