Biological Effects of X-Irradiation on Salivary Glands of Mice

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Abstract
Histological, histochemical, and biochemical studies of several oxidative enzymes were made in three major salivary glands of mice subjected to whole-body irradiation with or without a neck shield or to local irradiation in a single dose with X-rays. Irradiated salivary glands in all procedures showed related histochemical and biochemical damages associated with morphological changes. The histochemical enzymatic activities for succinic and malic dehydrogenases in degenerated striated ducts of the three salivary glands and for NADP-dependent dehydrogenases in their destroyed acini decreased progressively after whole-body irradiation with or without a neck shield. After local Irradiation, oxidative enzymatic activities were characterized by a recovering trend toward the end of the observation period following a maximal decrease on the second week after irradiation, the trend being particularly remarkable in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity in regenerated acini of the three salivary glands and in isocltric dehydrogenase activity in submandibular striated ducts. The biochemical findings were in excellent agreement with the histochemical observations; a marked decrease was found in succinic and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activities and a slight decrease in lactic dehydrogenase activity after irradiation. The present findings suggest that the enzymatic changes are useful indicators of the level of glandular oxidative metabolism, which is generally affected after irradiation, but the specific nature of these changes and their causes still remain unclear. Discussion was made of a possible relation of these findings to changes in salivary glands after X-irradiation.