Free d-aspartic acid in rat salivary glands

The presence of high concentrations of free d-amino acids in human saliva

“…As the result, tissues from the salivary glands were found to contain substantial amounts of d-alanine and d-aspartate, with d-enantiomer ratios up to 5%. Masuda et al (2003) analyzed free d-aspartate in adult rat (7 weeks old) submandibular glands, and detected roughly 8-fold higher concentration of the amino acid than that in the present experiment. They also observed that intraperitoneally administered d-aspartate did not affect the d-aspartate level in the submandibular gland in the adult rats.…”

d-Aspartate—An important bioactive substance in mammals: A review from an analytical and biological point of view

“…The salivary gland is an exocrine tissue comprised of three kinds of major salivary glands (parotid gland, submandibular gland and sublingual gland) and several minor salivary glands. Immunohistochemical analysis of rat major salivary glands revealed selective localization of d-Asp to acinar cells in the parotid gland and striated duct cells in submandibular gland [49]. Moreover, quantitative analysis revealed that d-Asp expression changed dramatically during development, suggesting tissue-and/or cell type-specific roles of d-Asp in the development and maturation of these glands.…”

“…36% [45]. In addition, dAsp has also been found in human gastric juice [46], human saliva [47], and human and rat salivary glands [47][48][49]. The salivary gland is an exocrine tissue comprised of three kinds of major salivary glands (parotid gland, submandibular gland and sublingual gland) and several minor salivary glands.…”

Effect of d-aspartate uptake on uncoupling protein-3 and α-tubulin expressions in rat Harderian gland

“…Important biological roles have been postulated for d-Asp. For instance, besides its well known neuroexcitatory activity, d-Asp is crucial for neurotransmission and neurosecretion in the CNS, for the biosynthesis and/or secretion of hormones in the endocrine gland [2][3][4][5][6][7][8], as well as for the secretory activity in some exocrine glands [9,10]. Numerous studies have demonstrated that d-Asp administered intraperitoneally or intravenously accumulates in the rat pineal gland as well as in the testis, pituitary, Harderian and adrenal glands [4,10,11].…”