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

Abstract

After burn or resection of one submandibular salivary gland the contralateral gland responded by an increase of proliferation. The maximal mitotic index was observed 48 hours after the resection and 72 hours after the burn. Burn of the salivary gland initiated a stable, but weak compensatory hypertrophy of the contralateral gland. Hypertrophy of the gland was accompanied by an increase in the size of the cells and the nuclei whose area enlarged by 10 and 17%, respectively. Resection of the salivary gland caused an increase in the weight of the intact contralateral gland only at the early periods of the experiment. By the 30th and the 45th day after the operation the weight of the intact contralateral gland failed to differ from control. The detected differences in the compensatory growth of the intact glands in two types of action on the contralateral salivary gland depended on the quantity of the tissue degeneration products and on the period of their stay in the organism.