Immunohistochemical Evaluation of the Pathological Effects of Diabetes Mellitus on the Major Salivary Glands of Albino Rats

Mashael Saeed Alqahtani; Sherif Sayed Hassan

doi:10.1055/s-0042-1749159

Immunohistochemical Evaluation of the Pathological Effects of Diabetes Mellitus on the Major Salivary Glands of Albino Rats

Eur J Dent. 2023 May;17(2):485-491. doi: 10.1055/s-0042-1749159. Epub 2022 Jul 4.

Authors

Mashael Saeed Alqahtani¹, Sherif Sayed Hassan^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Oral Pathology, Department of Basic and Clinical Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Oral Biology and Dental Anatomy, Faculty of Dentistry, Al-Azhar University, Assiut, Egypt.
³ Division of Oral Biology, Department of Basic and Clinical Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Objectives: Diabetes mellitus is a notorious chronic disease characterized by hyperglycemia. Our study aimed to determine the expression of cytokeratin 17 (CK17) in all major salivary glands of diabetic albino rats to provide more information about the pathological effects of DM on the intracellular structures of the gland parenchyma.

Materials and methods: Twenty male adult albino rats were utilized in the experiment and divided into two equal groups, group 1 (control rats) and group 2 (diabetic rats). The animals were sacrificed 45 days after diabetes induction. The major salivary gland complex of all groups was dissected and prepared for evaluation by histological and immunohistochemical expression of CK17.

Results: Histological results prove that the salivary gland parenchyma of diabetic group undergo gland atrophy characterized with the presence of degenerated acini, dilated duct system, and presence of duct-like structure with predominance of fibrous tissue compartment and discrete fat cells. Immunohistochemical expression of CK17 of major salivary gland of control group revealed negative to diffuse mild expression in all duct cells and some serous acinar cells, whereas mucous acini were negatively stained. On the other hand, major salivary gland parenchyma of diabetic group demonstrated mild to strong expression of duct cells more concentrated at their apical part with moderate to strong expression of some serous acini of diffuse type, whereas mucous acini of both submandibular gland and sublingual gland were negatively stained.

Conclusion: The severity and prevalence of CK 17 in our results are predictive of the pathological influence of the DM that interferes with saliva production and/or secretion leading to dry mouth. The results also showed clear changes in the cytokeratin expression of diabetic sublingual salivary gland, although it had little effect in the routine histological study with hematoxylin and eosin, confirming that routine studies are not sufficient to form a definitive opinion.

The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).