Objective: Introduction: Water-salt metabolism disorders is one of the main factor of salivary gland pathology development. The aim: To study the morphological structure of the parotid salivary gland of young, mature and old rats at micro- and ultrastructural levels under water deprivation.
Patients and methods: Materials and methods: The experiment was carried out on thirty six laboratory male rats of different ages (young, mature and old). The rats of the control group received normal volume of drinking water. The rats of the experimental group were deprived of water for 6 days. Light microscope "OLYMPUS" and transmission electron microscope JEM-1230, (JEOL, Japan) were used for structural analysis.
Results: Results: Obtained results revealed increasing numbers of vacuoles in the serous cells, the enlarged cisterns of endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus tubules, the condensed chromatin and the nuclei with significant invaginations in parotid gland of the rats of all age groups. The area of the acinuses more changed in young rats, the decrease was 34.61 % (P = 0.007). The internal diameter of capillaries most decreased in the dehydrated old rats by 23.76 % (P = 0.009) in comparison with all study groups.
Conclusion: Conclusions: Water deprivation brings about the structure changes of the parotid gland at micro- and ultrastructural levels the intensity of which depends on the age of animals. The most dramatic changes have occurred in young and old rats.
Keywords: electron microscopic investigation; the parotid gland; water deprivation.