Methods: Three rats were injected with caerulein and were sacrificed at 1, 4 and 18 hours after injection. One control rat was injected with physiological saline and one untreated. Salivary glands, lachrymal glands, liver and pancreas were removed surgically and frozen in liquid nitrogen. Cryostat sections of 12 µm were prepared and fixed in acetone/ethanol. The sections were stained immunohistochemically for myoepithelial cell markers desmine, vimentine and with conventional H&E.
Results: The caerulein-induced inflammation as demonstrated previously in liver and pancreas was also observed in the salivary and lachrymal glands from 4 hours post injection onwards. The macro pathological aspect however was less pronounced but clearly visible as swelling of the glands. Microscopically, an expansion of the acini could be observed and the myoepithelial cells were stained more intensive for desmine and vimentine in the caerulein-injected animals than in both controls.
Conclusions: The close relation between myoepithelial cells of salivary glands and the stellate cells of liver and pancreas could be the possible explanation of a disease like Sjogren syndrome. Further research should focus on this theory which might open the door to a novel treatment of such diseases. Acknowledgements: Study supported by FWO grant nr 1.5.168.05N and VUB grant nr. OZR1142