SALIVARY GLAND SECRETORY MECHANISMS DURING NORMAL AND ALTERED FUNCTIONAL STATES

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The health of the oral cavity is maintained by salivary secretions. The principal function of salivary glands is to produce these complex fluids. We utilize primarily in vitro dispersed cell and membrane preparations of rat salivary glands to understand mechanisms controlling saliva formation. We have focused these studies on autonomic neurotransmitter regulation of secretory events and associated signaling mechanisms. The aging rat parotid gland has been employed as a useful model to study autonomic receptor control of Ca2+ handling in exocrine acinar cells. During this reporting period specific areas of study with these preparations include (1) characteristics of the ATP-dependent Ca2+ pump in parotid basolateral membranes and (2) mechanistic aspects of Alpha-adrenoreceptor mobilization of cellular Ca2+. We have also expanded our efforts into developing and utilizing cell culture to study exocrine secretory events. To this end we have (1) begun to characterize functional events, associated with secretion, in three established epithelial cell lines and (2) initiated primary cultures of epithelial cells from several types of salivary glands.