No abstract

The salivary glands of non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice and BALB/c controls were evaluated for the stimulatory effects of the following neuropeptides; substance P (SP), vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), and neuropeptide Y (NPY). Injection of either of the three neuropeptides in combination with the muscariniccholinergic agonist pilocarpine increased saliva flow rates in BALB/c mice while there was no observable augmentation to flow rates in pre-diabetic or diabetic NOD mice. Small increases in protein content of the stimulated saliva were observed in the BALB/c group of animals with the injection of any of the above neuropeptides in combination with pilocarpine. In pre-diabetic NOD animals, only VIP and NPY increased the protein content-ratio above pilocarpine alone. Radioimmunoassay determination of neuropeptide concentrations in the submandibular and parotid glands revealed reduced levels of SP with diabetes onset as compared with pre-diabetic NOD or BALB/c mice. The levels of NPY were similar between BALB/c and NOD animals except in the pre-diabetic parotid gland where NPY concentrations were 1.3-fold greater. On the other hand, VIP concentrations were substantially reduced in the submandibular gland of NOD mice, while in the parotid gland neuropeptide levels were evaluated 3.8-fold relative to BALB/c controls. Immunohistochemical staining of the parotid and submandibular glands for SP revealed primarily ductal cell staining which was reduced with diabetes onset in NOD animals. These findings further define the sialoadenitis observed in NOD mice to be due, in part, to a general loss of neurotransmitter responsiveness on the part of salivary gland cells.

No abstract

Newborn marsupials do not have a thyroid gland at birth. The gland develops while the young marsupial is in the mother's pouch. The young brushtail possum initiates secretion of thyroid hormones from its own thyroid at about Day 65 post partum. However, during the first three weeks of pouch life thyroxine is passed from the mother to the young via the milk. To determine if this maternal thyroxine can effect organ development in the young possum before it initiates secretion of thyroxine from its own thyroid, the ontogeny of thyroid hormone receptors was determined in nuclear extracts of lung, liver and kidney by radioreceptor assay, using (125)I-labelled tri-iodothyronine as ligand. Receptor density was calculated for tissues removed from young possums at Days 25 (n = 5), 50 (n = 4), 100 (n = 3) and 150 (n = 4) and from adults (n = 5). Receptors were found in possums of all age groups, including the small 25-day pouch young. Significant differences were not found in the receptor density between different tissues or at various ages. The association constant Ka (4.0+/-2.6 L nmol[-1] for lung) was similar in different tissues and at the various ages examined. The passage of thyroid hormones from the mother to the developing marsupial via the milk may have a role in the slow development of organ systems early in pouch life by acting on thyroid receptors in the pouch young. However, the functional maturation of the thyroid gland of the young possum, not an increase in receptors, appears to coincide with the rapid increase in the rate of growth and development which occurs in later pouch life.