Qualitative and quantitative observations on the histology of human labial salivary glands obtained post mortem

Ostensibly non-diseased labial salivary glands from 70 necropsies evenly divided by sex and age between 18-90 years were examined histologically. In each case minor pathological changes in the parenchyma were subjectively graded and a morphometric investigation was made of the proportional volumes of component tissues in the glands. A wide variation was found in the histology throughout the series. Acinar atrophy and ductal dilatation and hyperplasia were frequent, tending to increase with age and affecting females earlier than males. As age increased there was a progressive reduction in proportional acinar volume with corresponding increases in the proportions of ducts and fibrous tissue. A quarter of the series contained foci of lymphorecticular cells mostly in lobules affected by parenchymal atrophy, dilatation and hyperplasia. Occasionally lymphoreticular foci were present in otherwise unaltered parenchyma suggesting, therefore, that such foci may not develop exclusively in rheumatoid diseases, as these conditions had been excluded from the present series.