Fine structure and cytochemistry of the intralobular ducts of the human parotid gland.
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An intralobular duct of a human parotid gland has two parts, an intercalated part and a striated part. Intercalated ducts are lined with low cuboidal cells endowed with scanty cytoplasmic organelles. Striated ducts are lined with columnar cells rich in mitochondria and glycogen particles, and are characterized by extensive infoldings of the basal plasma membrane. The apical cytoplasm of the cells of the striated ducts shows a number of membrane-bound granules having a diameter of about 0-15 mum. These granules contain material of varying electron density which does not react with silver or with the histochemical reagents employed in the present study. Thus, on the basis of their small size and histochemical characteristics, they are distinct from the large and dense secretory granules observed in the so-called granular striated ducts of some animals. In addition, cells of striated ducts contain lysosomes, peroxisomes, and large lipoid bodies which give histochemical reactions typical of lipofuscins. Bodies of myoepithelial cells have been observed only in intercalated ducts. Their processes, however, extend into the proximal parts of striated ducts. (+info)
Origin of acinar cell regeneration after atrophy of the rat parotid induced by duct obstruction.
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Acinar cell regeneration in the rat parotid gland after atrophy induced by a one week period of duct obstruction was examined using histology, immunohistochemistry and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). For immunohistochemistry, antibodies to 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU), injected one hour before tissue collection, and cytokeratin were employed. When clips were removed from the duct, only ductal epithelial cells remained; all acinar cells had been deleted. Some duct cells were BrdU positive. After three days, newly-formed acini comprising immature acinar cells had appeared; many of the cells were BrdU positive and mitotic figures were readily identified. Thereafter progressive acinar cell maturation and proliferation occurred, parotid gland weight returning to control levels by 7 days. Peak BrdU labelling indices for duct and acinar cells were on days 0 and 4, respectively. By TEM, cytoplasmic organelles in epithelial cells of transitional duct-acinar structures seen at 2 days were poorly developed. Immature acinar cells seen on day 3 contained zymogen granules and had increased endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria. By day 5, maturing acinar cells had abundant endoplasmic reticulum and zymogen granules, resembling acinar cells in control glands. These observations indicated origin of acinar cell precursors from duct cells during regeneration of the acinar cell-free atrophic gland. Subsequent expansion of the acinar cell population was dependent on maturation and proliferation of these newly-formed cells. (+info)
Secretion of old versus new exportable protein in rat parotid slics. Control by neurotransmitters.
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The possibility that old and new secretory granules do not mix and that older exportable protein can be secreted preferentially was tested on parotid gland in vitro. Slices from fasted animals were pulse labeled for 3 min with L-[3H]leucine. Subcellular fractionstion showed that after 1 90-min chase period, the formation of new labeled secretory granules was mostly completed. The ratio of label in secretory granules to label in microsomes increased 250-fold during the period 5--90 min postpulse. After the 90-min chase, a submaximal rate of secretion was initiated by adding a low concentration of isoproterenol to the slices. Preferential secretion of old unlabeled exportable protein was evident from the finding that the percent of total amylase secreted was 3.5-fold greater than the percent of labeled protein secreted. Preferential secretion of old unlabeled exportable amylase was undiminished even when the chase period before addition of isoproterenol was extended to 240 min. Such long chase incubations were still meaningful due to the fact that the spontaneous rat of amylase release and radioactive protein release from the slices was negligibly low. A high isoproterenol concentration added to the slices after a 90-min chase produced the following results. An initial phase of preferential secretion of old unlabeled protein was soon replaced by secretion of a random mixture of new and old exportable protein. Electron micrographs indicated that high rates of secretion involved sequential fusion of secretory granules so that the lumen extended deep into the cell where the new labeled granules were presumably located. At low rates of secretion, the lumen showed no such deep extensions. Experiments were also conducted on slices from glands which had been largely depleted of old granules by prior injection of isoproterenol into the animals. Secretion of labeled protein from such slices stopped with the export of 80% of the labeled protein. This finding indicates that about 20% of the radioactive protein is cellular nonexportable protein and that the slices are capable of exporting the entire amount of secretory protein which was symthesized in vitrol. In addition to the beta-adrenergic receptor which mediates protein secretion, the parotid acinar cell also possesses an alpha-adrenergic and a cholinergic receptor both of which cause K+ release, vacuole formation, and water secretion. Activation of either of the latter two receptors in conjunction with the beta-adrenergic receptor increased randomization of the protein secreted. It is concluded that in the rat parotid acinar cell there is little spontaneous mixing between old granules near the luminal cell membrane and new granules coming up behind from the Golgi complex. The neurotransmitters which induce secretion produce the observed randomization. (+info)
Ryanodine and inositol trisphosphate receptors are differentially distributed and expressed in rat parotid gland.
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The present study examines the cellular distribution of the ryanodine receptor/channel (RyR) and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (InsP3R) subtypes in parotid acini. Using fluorescently labelled 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene-3-propionic acid glycyl-ryanodine (BODIPYtrade mark-ryanodine) and confocal microscopy, RyRs were localized primarily to the perinuclear region (basal pole) of the acinar cell. Ryanodine, Ruthenium Red, cAMP and cADP ribose (cADPR) competed with BODIPY-ryanodine, resulting in a reduction in the fluorescence signal. However, inositol 1,4, 5-trisphosphate [Ins(1,4,5)P3] did not alter the binding of BODIPY-ryanodine. Using receptor-subtype-specific antisera, InsP3Rs (types I, II and III) were located predominantly in the apical pole of the parotid cell. The presence of these three subtypes was confirmed using reverse transcriptase PCR with RNA-specific oligonucleotide probes. Binding studies using a parotid cell-membrane fraction identified and characterized RyRs and InsP3Rs in terms of binding affinity (Kd) and maximum binding capacity (Bmax) and confirmed that cADPR displaces ryanodine from its binding sites. Ruthenium Red and 8-Br-cADP-ribose blocked Ca2+ release in permeabilized acinar cells in response to cADPR and cAMP or forskolin, whereas Ins(1,4,5)P3-induced Ca2+ release was unaffected. The localization of the RyRs and InsP3Rs in discrete regions endow broad areas of the parotid cell with ligand-activated Ca2+ channels. The consequences of the dual activation of the RyRs and InsP3Rs by physiologically relevant stimuli such as noradrenaline (norepinephrine) are considered in relation to Ca2+ signalling in the parotid gland. (+info)
Quantitative description of the spatial arrangement of organelles in a polarised secretory epithelial cell: the salivary gland acinar cell.
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Previous quantitative descriptions of cellular ultrastructure have focused on spatial content (volume, surface area and number of organelles and membrane domains). It is possible to complement such descriptions by also quantifying spatial arrangements. Hitherto, applications of stereological methods for achieving this (notably, estimation of covariance and pair correlation functions) have been confined to organ and tissue levels. This study explores 3-dimensional subcellular arrangements of key organelles within acinar cells of rabbit parotid salivary glands, highly polarised epithelial cells specialised for exocrine secretion of alpha-amylase. It focuses on spatial arrangements of secretion product stores (zymogen granules), rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) and mitochondria. Systematic random samples of electron microscopical fields of view from 3 rabbits were analysed using test grids bearing linear dipole probes of different sizes. Unbiased estimates of organelle volume densities were obtained by point counting and estimates of covariance and pair correlation functions by dipole counting. Plots of pair correlation functions against dipole length identified spatial arrangement differences between organelle types. Volumes within RER and mitochondrial compartments were positively correlated with themselves at distances below 4 microm and 2 microm respectively but were essentially randomly arranged at longer distances. In sharp contrast, zymogen granules were not randomly arranged. They were clustered at distances below 6-7 microm and more widely scattered at greater distances. These findings provide quantitative confirmation of the polarised arrangement of zymogen granules within acinar cells and further support for the relative invariance of biological organisation between subjects. (+info)
Ultrastructure of the parotid gland in two species of naked-backed bats.
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Naked-backed bats of the genus Pteronotus (family Mormoopidae) occur in the Neotropics from Mexico through northern South America. These are relatively small-sized insectivorous species that frequently roost in caves. Eight specimens of naked-backed bats (Pteronotus parnellii) were live-trapped in Suriname and one in Cuba (P. quadridens). Their parotid glands were fixed in an aldehyde mixture designed for field work and postfixed in the laboratory with osmium tetroxide. Tissues were further prepared for electron microscopy by conventional means. The parotid glands of the two species of Pteronotus closely resemble each other except for the substructure of their serous secretory granules. Serous granules in P. parnellii are bizonal, with a moderately dense inner matrix and an outer, denser corona or crescent. The matrix is occupied by laminae, flakes, and filaments in random array. In contrast, serous granules in P. quadridens consist of a uniform matrix that contains dense, usually stacked toroids or tubules either in random array or packed in bundles. A parotid gland from one specimen of P. parnellii contained an endpiece that consisted of cells that contained giant (up to 9 pm in diameter) serous granules. Serous cells in both species contain aggregates of small, uniformly dense, rod-like, membrane-delimited organelles as well as occasional bundles of cytofilaments. The endpieces are separated from intercalated ducts by a ring of granulated cells that contain secretory granules that often have a bull's-eye configuration. Intercalated and striated ducts are typical in appearance, except that many of the cells in the latter contain small, dense secretory granules in their apical cytoplasm. The parotid glands in the two species of naked-baked bats differ slightly in terms of acinar secretory granule ultrastructure, but otherwise are fairly conservative. It is thought that the glands in these particular bats might represent the "basal" condition of the salivary glands of insectivorous bats and thus can serve as a reference point for making comparisons to the highly diversified (in terms of diet) phyllostomid bats. (+info)
Developmental changes of sugar residues and secretory protein in mucous cells of the early postnatal rat parotid gland.
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Mucous cells have been identified in the terminal portions of the early postnatal parotid gland in human and rat, although mature parotid gland acini are composed of serous cells or seromucous cells. Previously, Ikeda et al. demonstrated that mucous cells are present in the rat parotid gland on days 1 to 8 after birth and that the secretory granules within these mucous cells share some histochemical characteristics with mature serous cells. However, it is still not clear whether the mucous cells change into serous cells as the gland develops. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the mucous cells that appear in the early postnatal rat parotid gland change into serous cells. Parotid glands were obtained from male or female Wistar rats (aged 0-14 days and adults). Fixed tissue sections were reacted with soybean agglutinin (SBA) and wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) to detect glycoconjugates, or were stained using an anti-neonatal submandibular gland protein B1 (SMG-B1) antibody to identify serous acinar cells. The sections were observed by transmission electron microscopy. Electron microscopy revealed that cells with characteristics intermediate between those of mucous and serous cells (transitional cells) appeared around day 8 and that the nuclei of these cells did not show chromatin condensation, a characteristic of apoptotic cells. Lectin histochemistry showed that the mucous cells had the same sugar residues as the serous cells, which appeared after day 10. Immunohistochemistry with an anti-SMG-B1 antibody gave a positive reaction not only in the cells with highly electron-dense granules but also in the electron-dense cores of bipartite or tripartite granules in the transitional cells. Cells with morphological characteristics intermediate between those of mucous and serous cells (transitional cells) appearing in the early postnatal rat parotid gland begin to produce B1-immunoreactive protein common to serous acinar cells during development of the gland. (+info)
Isoproterenol potentiates alpha-adrenergic and muscarinic receptor-mediated Ca2+ response in rat parotid cells.
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The effects of the cAMP pathway on the Ca2+ response elicited by phospholipase C-coupled receptor stimulations were studied in rat parotid cells. Although 1 microM isoproterenol (Iso) itself had no effect on the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration, the pretreatment with Iso potentiated Ca2+ responses evoked by phenylephrine. The potentiating effect of Iso was attributed to a shifting of the concentration-response curves of phenylephrine to the left and an increase in the maximal response. Half-maximal potentiation occurred at 3 nM Iso. Iso also potentiated the Ca2+ response elicited by carbachol. The potentiating effect of Iso was mimicked by forskolin (10 microM) and dibutyryl adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (2 mM) and was blocked by 10 microM H-89. Iso potentiated the phenylephrine-induced Ca2+ response in the absence of extracellular Ca2+, but Iso did not increase the inositol trisphosphate (IP3) production induced by phenylephrine. These results suggest that the potentiation of the Ca2+ response can be attributed to a sensitization of IP3 receptors by cAMP-dependent protein kinase. (+info)