Cell population changes during acinus formation in the postnatal rat submandibular gland.

Abstract

AbstractThe postnatal differentiation of acini in the submandibular glands of 2–42 day old rats given 3H‐thymidine was studied by using radioautographs prepared from Epon‐embedded, PAS and iron hematoxylin stained sections. The changes in morphology, population size and proliferative activity of various cell types in the gland were analyzed. At two days of age, rudimentary secretory units, designated as terminal tubules, were located at the end of the duct system and consisted of three cell types: (1) terminal tubule cells (30.7%) with darkly‐stained granules, (2) proacinar cells (23.6%) with large, lightly‐stained granules, and (3) acinar cells (1.6%) with PAS‐positive granules. The proacinar cells, which underwent mitosis, disappeared within the first two weeks of life. The terminal tubule cells increased in number between 2 and 14 days of age, but became less numerous thereafter and disappeared by six weeks. Concomitantly, the number of acinar cells increased linearly with age and at a much greater rate than that of intercalated duct cells. Yet the rate of proliferation of acinar cells was comparable to that of intercalated duct cells. The overall proliferative activity in the gland decreased with age, and was inversely correlated with the relative frequency of acinar cells in the gland. On the basis of above data, it is postulated that, during the formation of acini from terminal tubules, acinar cells have a dual origin: they arise from proacinar cells during the first one to two weeks and from terminal tubule cells between two and six weeks of age.