Relationship Between the Facial Artery and Sub Mandibular Salivary Gland.

Knowledge of relationship between the facial artery and submandibular salivary gland is essential for the surgeon operating in the submandibular region. This study has been under taken to have the knowledge of this relationship. Submandibular region has been dissected on 20 male cadavers in the Department of Anatomy, Sree Narayana Institute of Medical Sciences, Kerala. The course of the facial artery and its relationship to submandibular salivary gland has been followed carefully. The standard description of ascent of the facial artery along the entire length of posterior border of the submandibular salivary gland was seen in 15 out of the 20 sides studied. In 4 out of 20 sides dissected the facial artery reached only the upper part of the posterior border of the gland. The facial artery arose high on the external carotid artery near the angle of the mandible in one specimen. It reached the gland only at its postero-superior angle, pierced through the gland and emerged on the upper part of the lateral surface of the gland. Our study shows that only 1/5 of instances facial artery courses along the posterior border of the gland. In 4/5 of instances it reaches only the upper part of the posterior border.

Submandibular glands and the regulation of gastric proliferation and TGFα distribution during rat postnatal development

Rodent gastric mucosa grows and differentiates during suckling-weaning transition. Among the molecules in rat milk, EGF and TGFβ are important peptides in the control of cell proliferation, and together with TGFα, they are also produced by submandibular glands. We aimed to determine the effect of saliva and milk on epithelial cell proliferation in the stomach of rat pups. We also examined the distribution of TGFα in the gastric mucosa after sialoadenectomy (SIALO) and fasting in order to determine whether this growth factor is affected by the deprivation of molecules derived from saliva and milk. SIALO was performed at 14 days and fasting was induced 3 days later. Cell proliferation was evaluated through metaphasic index and TGFα was detected by immunohistochemistry. We observed that whereas SIALO did not alter cell division, since the metaphasic index (MI) was unchanged, fasting stimulated cell proliferation (P < 0.05). After SIALO and fasting, MI was reduced when compared to the fasted group (P < 0.05). We found that TGFα is distributed along gastric gland and SIALO did not interfere in the localization and number of immunolabeled cells, but fasting increased their density when compared to the control (P < 0.05). The association of SIALO and fasting reduced TGFα immunostaining (P < 0.05). Therefore, during fasting, high MI was parallel to increased TGFα in gastric epithelium, but interestingly, this effect was found only in the presence of submandibular glands. We suggest that during suckling, peptides derived from saliva and milk are important to regulate gastric growth.