Excretion of sodium and potassium in cat submandibular saliva.

Abstract

AbstractThe concentrations of ions in the saliva vary with the secretory rate. Different results concerning sodium concentration in relation to flow rate have been found by different investigators. In the present work secretion was elicited by chorda stimulation and the concentrations of sodium and potassiuni in the saliva were determined by flame photometry. The sodium concentrations in the first samples of cat submandibular saliva taken from a previously resting gland were higher than the sodium concentrations in samples taken later at the same secretory rate. The maximal difference in concentration between transient and steady state sample was about 50 meq/l. Steady state concentrations of sodium increased proportionally to the flow rate except at low flow rates where sodium concentrations were greater than expected on the basis of this relation. Steady start concentrations of potassium were independent of the secretory rate when this was higher than 100 μ1/min/g gland, with a value of about 10 meq/l. Below this flow rate the potassium Concentration rose, first slightly and then steeply, when flow rate decreased, and reached values of more than 100 nieq/1 at secretory rates of about 2 μl/min/g gland.