Journal of Dental Research, Vol 75, 980-985, Copyright © 1996 by International & American Associations for Dental Research Online Journals
The flow rate of unstimulated human labial gland saliva
D. B. Ferguson
University of Manchester, School of Biological Sciences, United Kingdom.
Although the minor salivary glands contribute an important fraction of the
resting flow of saliva, which may be particularly relevant in xerostomia,
there is currently no precise method of measuring the flow from individual
glands or recording the number of active glands in a given area. These
experiments were devised to test a photographic method of assaying labial
gland saliva and to see whether subjects of different ages had differing
flow rates and/or numbers of glands. Unstimulated saliva secretion from
labial salivary glands was measured in healthy non-medicated subjects aged
20 to 55 years by a photographic method. The number of glands in a unit
area, the individual gland flow rates, and the flow rates per unit area
were assessed. There was a high correlation between flow rate per unit area
as measured by this method and measurements from weighing filter paper
before and after absorption of the saliva droplets when the latter method
could be used. The mean flow rate for 22 subjects was 2.35 +/- 1.65
microL/min over the whole area photographed. Subjects with higher flow
rates had both more active glands and a higher rate of secretion from
individual glands. There was no correlation between either number of active
glands in a unit area or of flow rate and age in the age range represented
by these subjects.
