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Published on: April 24, 2016
Scintigraphic assessment of salivary gland function in a rat model
Andreas Pfestroff1, Felix Müller, Damiano Librizzi
1Department of Nuclear Medicine, Philipps University, Baldingerstraße, 35043 Marburg, Germany. pfestrof@med.uni-marburg.de
Background:
Salivary gland dysfunction with xerostomia is a major clinical problem without a causal therapy in most cases. The development of an animal model for scintigraphic assessment of salivary gland function has great clinical relevance for the investigation of promising new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for chronic salivary gland diseases. This study reports the first experiences with scintigraphic analyses of salivary gland function in a rat model.
Materials And Methods:
Anatomical and scintigraphic studies were performed for topographic differentiation of major salivary glands of Wistar rats. (⁹⁹m)technetium pertechnetate salivary gland scanning was performed, appropriate regions of interest were determined and the gland-to-background ratio was examined for the evaluation of salivary gland function.
Results:
The quantitative analysis of salivary gland scintigraphy revealed a reliable comparison of major salivary glands on both sides with the gland-to-background ratio ranging from 1.26 to 1.94 with an average of 1.51.
Conclusion:
This model seems to be appropriate for functional studies in an experimental setting.
