Quantitative histoenzymologic characteristics of the submaxillary salivary glands during the ovarian cycle in albino rats

Abstract

To study the connection between the salivary and endocrine glands and also the degree of participation of individual components of the salivary glands with different functions in endocrine regulation, the ovarian cycle was used. The concentrations of proteins, mucopolysaccharides, DNA, and RNA, and activity of NAD- and NADP-diaphorases, alkaline phosphatase, malate and isocitrate dehydrogenases, and α-leucine-aminopeptidase in the submaxillary salivary glands were investigated. It was shown by cytospectrophotometric analysis that, depending on the phases of the ovarian cycle, synchronous changes in the activity of the enzymes studied took place in all parts of the salivary glands. Of the four consecutive phases of the sex cycle the greatest activity of the enzymes and concentration of proteins and mucopolysaccharides were observed in proestrus and metestrus. The metabolic processes in the salivary tubules were rather different from those in other parts of the glands, and this may be attributable to differences in the pattern of secretion production and also, possibly, hormone formation.