Salivary Glands of the Rat in a Hot Environment

E lmér , M. and P. O hlin . Salivary glands of the rat in a hot environment . Acta physiol. scand. 1970. 79 . 129–132. A marked hypertrophy of the normally innervated submaxillary gland was observed in rats subjected to heat (34°C) for 3 weeks. The increase in weight of parasympathetically de‐xiervated glands was much less while that of sympathetically denervated glands was still pronounced. The size of both synipathetically and parasympathetically denervated glands was not affected in a hot environment. It seems likely that the hypertrophy of the submaxillary gland is to a large extent secondary to an increased secretory activity elicited by the para‐sympathetic secretory fibres. A corresponding increase in weight of the sublingual gland was not seen.