Difference in Sensitivity of Parotid Glands brought about by Disuse and Overuse

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Abstract
The sensitivity to methacholine of the parotid glands in rats maintained on a liquid diet (aiming at sensitization) for a period of 2 wk or 3-4 wk was compared with that of the parotid glands in rats on a pelleted bulk diet (aiming at desensitization). In the rats on the liquid diet, the dose needed to evoke a just perceptible secretion of saliva was smaller, the secretion started earlier and continued over a longer time period, and the amount of saliva secreted expressed per gland weight in response to submaximal doses of the sialogogue drug was larger when compared with the rats on the pelleted bulk diet. These findings are interpreted as signs of a higher degree of sensitivity of the glands in the rats on the liquid diet than of those in the rats on the pelleted bulk diet.

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