SUCCINIC DEHYDROGENASE IN THE MAMMALIAN TONGUE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO GUSTATORY EPITHELIA

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Abstract
Succinic dehydrogenase activity was demonstrated histochemically in different tissues of the tongues of three mammalian species. The enzyme activity was demonstrable in the basal layers of the stratified squamous epithelium of the nongustatory area and in all layers of the gustatory epithelium. The most intense reaction occurred in some of the taste bud cells where the enzyme was more concentrated in the apical than in the basal parts of the cells. All the taste buds in the three species were positive regardless of their contents of alkaline phosphatases. There was a species difference in the reaction in the ducts of the lingual glands, those of man having a high concentration of the enzyme (more than that found in the acinar cells), while the enzyme was found only to a small extent in the ducts of both dog and rabbit tongues. A possible physiological role of the enzyme in the ducts of the human lingual glands in transferring water (and perhaps carrying toxic substances with it) from the blood stream to the saliva is suggested. The lingual muscle reacted in a similar fashion to skeletal muscle elsewhere in the body showing "light" and "dark" fibres (fibres with small and large amounts of succinic dehydrogenase respectively). Succinic dehydrogenase has been found to be abundant in the striped muscle of the tongue, in the ducts and the periphery of the acinar cells of the glands, in the basal layers of the epithelium of some taste bud cells, neurones and the smooth muscle fibres of the walls of the blood vessels. Conversely the enzyme could not be demonstrated in the connective tissue and in some layers of the epithelium. The distribution suggests that this enzyme is present in the highest concentration within those portions of the tissues of the tongue showing higher metabolic activity and is not present in great concentration in the tissues that are less active metabolically.

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