Ablation of submandibular salivary glands in rats provokes a decrease in plasma luteinizing hormone levels correlated...

This work was designed to determine whether changes in plasma and hypophyseal levels of LH are the source of the previously reported atrophy of testicular interstitial tissue following ablation of submandibular salivary glands. The plasma and hypophyseal levels of LH were assayed, and testicular sections examined by electron microscopy in rats, weighing 230-260 g, whose submandibular glands had been removed. Twenty days after sialectomy, the rats were killed, and the pituitary glands removed, homogenized and frozen until used in LH-RIA like the blood samples. Testes were removed and fixed in osmic acid. There was a significant decrease in plasma LH levels in operated animals when compared with sham-operated controls (47.28 +/- 7 ng/ml versus 70.42 +/- 8; p less than 0.02), but the hypophyseal LH content was not significantly modified. Electron microscopy mainly showed important changes in the morphology of the Leydig cells, with a distinct reduction in the number of mitochondria and elements of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum. These findings suggest a physiological involvement of submandibular glands in a possible endocrinological link with the gonadotropic axis.