title: Thymosin beta(4) and beta(10) levels in pre-term newborn oral cavity and foetal salivary glands evidence a switch of secretion during foetal development.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Thymosin beta(4), its sulfoxide, and thymosin beta(10) were detected in whole saliva of human pre-term newborns by reversed-phase high performance chromatography coupled to electrospray ion-trap mass spectrometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Despite high inter-individual variability, concentration of beta-thymosins increases with an inversely proportional trend to postmenstrual age (PMA: gestational age plus chronological age after birth) reaching a value more than twenty times higher than in adult whole saliva at 190 days (27 weeks) of PMA (thymosin beta(4) concentration: more than 2.0 micromol/L versus 0.1 micromol/L). On the other hand, the ratio between thymosin beta(4) and thymosin beta(10) exhibits a constant value of about 4 along all the range of PMA (190-550 days of PMA) examined. In order to investigate thymosin beta(4) origin and to better establish the trend of its production as a function of gestational age (GA), immunohistochemical analysis of major and minor salivary glands of different pre-term fetuses were carried out, starting from 84 days (12 weeks) of gestational age. Reactive granules were seen in all glands with a maximum of expression around 140-150 days of GA, even though with high inter- and intra-individual variability. In infants and adults reactive granules in acinar cells were not observed, but just a diffuse cytoplasmatic staining in ductal cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study outlines for the first time that salivary glands during foetal life express and secrete peptides such as beta-thymosins probably involved in the development of the oral cavity and its annexes. The secretion increases from about 12 weeks till to about 21 weeks of GA, subsequently it decreases, almost disappearing in the period of expected date of delivery, when the gland switches towards the secretion of adult specific salivary peptides. The switch observed may be an example of further secretion switches involving other exocrine and endocrine glands during foetal development.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Citomorfologia, Università di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nemolato
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Messana
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cabras
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Manconi
authors.forename: Rosanna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Inzitari
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fanali
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vento
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tirone
authors.forename: Costantino
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Romagnoli
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Riva
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fanni
authors.forename: Eliana
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Di Felice
authors.forename: Gavino
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Faa
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Castagnola