Amylase Content of Separate Salivary Gland Secretions of Man

¹ From the Departments of Physiology and Clinical Dentistry, School of Dentistry and Medical College of Alabama, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama

The amylase content, expressed as milligrams per milliliter and milligrams per hour, of the secretions of separate salivary gland pairs has been estimated for human subjects at rest and, in the case of the parotid gland secretion only, under conditions of moderate stimulation of oral receptors. Under ‘resting’ conditions, the secretion of the parotid glands has been found to have a concentration of amylase (mg/ml) appreciably higher than that of the other secretions and the amylase concentration of that secretion does not change with a moderate increase in the degree of stimulation of the glands and, hence, of salivary flow. The individual ‘resting’ submaxillary and sublingual gland secretions show an equal concentration (mg/ml) of amylase which, under these conditions, is about one-fourth that of the parotid secretion. The time rate of secretion (mg/hr.) of the enzyme by the ‘resting’ submaxillary and parotid glands is appreciable and is of the same order of magnitude for each of the two gland pairs. The rate of amylase secretion by the sublingual glands, under the same conditions, is only one-twentieth of that by the submaxillary and parotid glands.

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