A NO-EXOCRINE FUNCTION OF THE SUBMANDIBULAR SALIVARY-GLAND

Emphasizing on the concept of <<banalization>> and multifactoriality o f the signal molecules of the cellular communication, the authors revi ew data of the literature which allow to attribute to some substances synthetized by the submandibular salivary glands (SSG), mainly growth factors as EGF and NGF, an endocrine role. Because of their direct sec retion in the oral cavity or their overflow into bloodstream the conse quences of the deficit of these growth factors could be correlated wit h some oral pathologies such as aphthous lesions, puberty and pregnanc y gingivitis, which endocrine etiology is often assumed, as well as au toimmune salivary pathologies. Thus, the results obtained after SSG re moval furnish a support for envisaging a link between the submandibula r salivary glands and the reproductive function (decrease in plasma LH level, ultrastructural changes of the Leydig cells, spontaneous abort ion) and with some structures of the central nervous system such as hy pothalamus (variation in hypothalamic TRH content) or pineal gland (de crease in pineal cyclic AMP content). Particularly interesting is the possibility that NGF secreted in blood by the SSG during a stress may represent the signal able to stimulate the peripheral immunity cells a s well as to inform the central nervous system through a neuronal path way via the superior cervical ganglia and the pineal gland. This brain afferent information could be associated with an increased hypothalam ic NGF synthesis, also observed during stress, whose finality might be to stimulate the secretion of hypophyseal ACTH, the main hormone invo lved in the interrelationship between endocrine and immune response.