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Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Isolation of Salivary Epithelial Cells from Human Salivary Glands for In Vitro Growth as Salispheres or Monolayers
Published on: July 15, 2019
Ion transport and signalling in human labial glands
R J Turner1, M Paulais, I I Valdez
1Gene Therapy and Therapeutics Branch, National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. rjturner@nih.gov
Abstract:
Recent reports characterizing the physiological properties of normal human labial acini are reviewed with particular emphasis on mechanisms related to fluid secretion. In contrast to the salivary glands of several experimental animals, human labial acinar cells do not appear to have a1-adrenergic receptors, substance P peptidergic receptors, or significant levels of Cl-/HCO3- exchange. Nor do they appear to secrete HCO3- in response to Ca2+ mobilizing stimuli. The data presently available indicates that fluid secretion by these glands is mainly under muscarinic control and is due to acinar Cl- secretion driven by a basolateral Na+ -K+ -2Cl- cotansporter.
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