The salivary gland plays important roles in maintaining the health and homeostasis of the oral cavity by regulating functions, such as chewing, digestion, cleaning, and swallowing. Salivary gland dysfunction causes dry mouth syndrome, which includes many oral problems, such as dental caries, bacterial infection, mastication dysfunction, and swallowing dysfunction. Therefore, salivary gland regeneration is expected, and we attempted to establish a method by manual approaches. Previously, a novel three-dimensional cell manipulation technique, the "organ germ method," to create a bioengineered organ germ enabled the regeneration of structurally correct and fully functional bioengineered organs, including the teeth, hair follicles, and secretory glands, in vivo. Here, we describe the protocol for salivary gland germ regeneration using this method and the functional analysis of the regenerated salivary gland.
Keywords: Bioengineered salivary gland germ; Organ germ method; Saliva secretion; Salivary gland; Transplantation.