Scintigraphic assessment of salivary gland function in a rat model.
BACKGROUND
Salivary gland dysfunction with xerostomia is a major clinical problem without a causal therapy in most cases. The development of an animal model for scintigraphic assessment of salivary gland function has great clinical relevance for the investigation of promising new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for chronic salivary gland diseases. This study reports the first experiences with scintigraphic analyses of salivary gland function in a rat model.


METHODS
Anatomical and scintigraphic studies were performed for topographic differentiation of major salivary glands of Wistar rats. (⁹⁹m)technetium pertechnetate salivary gland scanning was performed, appropriate regions of interest were determined and the gland-to-background ratio was examined for the evaluation of salivary gland function.


RESULTS
The quantitative analysis of salivary gland scintigraphy revealed a reliable comparison of major salivary glands on both sides with the gland-to-background ratio ranging from 1.26 to 1.94 with an average of 1.51.


CONCLUSIONS
This model seems to be appropriate for functional studies in an experimental setting.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Philipps University, Baldingerstraße, 35043 Marburg, Germany. pfestrof@med.uni-marburg.de
Andreas
A
Pfestroff
Felix
F
Müller
Damiano
D
Librizzi
Behfar
B
Eivazi
Martin
M
Behe
Helmut
H
Hoeffken
Thomas M
TM
Behr
Afshin
A
Teymoortash
D000818:Animals; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008297:Male; D010306:Parotid Gland / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D013670:Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m; D013361:Sublingual Gland / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013363:Submandibular Gland / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013670:Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m