The histochemistry of mucins in certain primate salivary glands.

Abstract

AbstractSubmandibular and sublingual salivary glands of squirrel and rhesus monkeys and man contain histochemically demonstrable neutral mucosubstances, sialomucins and sulfomucins. Judged by results obtained with a variety of staining procedures and by the effects of prior sialidase digestion, periodate oxidation and certain chemical modifications on the several staining procedures, differences are revealed in the types of mucosubstances within each cell type. Specifically, sialic acid‐containing mucosaccharides are present uniformly in the mucous cells of the submandibular glands of both monkeys and in a posterior segment of the sublingual gland of the rhesus monkey. Sulfomucin is the predominant secretion of the sublingual gland of the squirrel monkey and is also found in the anterior portion of the sublingual of the rhesus monkey as verified by S35O4 = autoradiography. This latter sulfomucin is admixed with a small amount of sialomucin. One or the other or mixtures of these two mucins in about equal proportions are present in the mucous acini of human submandibular glands. Seromucous acini in the human submandibular gland form a granular secretion with strong affinity for aldehyde fuchsin possibly attributable to a sulfated mucosubstance. Other and perhaps some of the same seromucous acini in this gland produce a granular secretion containing sialic acid in probable proximity, as shown by the periodate‐para diamine procedure after sialidase, to a hexose or deoxyhexose. A sulfomucin forms the major secretory component in the mucous acini of human sublingual glands. However, some mucous acini in this sublingual gland produce a mixture of sialo‐ and sulfomucins either in different or the same cells. Seromucous demilunes or acini in the human sublingual gland produce a granular secretion rich in sialic acid like that in the submandibular gland.