SURFACE AND COLLOID-CHEMICAL ASPECTS OF SALIVA PARTICLE INTERACTIONS

Sections of flash-frozen saliva particle mixture were examined by tran smission electron microscopy. The saliva samples used consisted of 40% by volume parotid and 60% by volume submandibular sublingual fraction s. One mL of the saliva was mixed with 0.1 mt of either hydrophilic or hydrophobic particles of 0.9 mu m diameter. The micrographs of the sa liva and hydrophilic particles mixes showed the multiple spherical par ticles in the salivary network structures. Micrographs of the saliva a nd hydrophilic particle mixes showed the presence of few such objects; when observed, the particles were located only in the electron dense part of the salivary structures.