title: Epithelial-stromal interactions in salivary glands of rats exposed to chronic passive smoking.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cigarette smoke leads to precancerous and cancerous lesions in the mouth even when the exposure is passive. The salivary glands are amongst the tissues exposed to the smoke but it is unclear whether or not passive cigarette exposure is related to detectable changes in these tissues. The objective of this study was to observe the tissue architecture of the parotid and submandibular glands in rats after passive cigarette exposure and to measure any changes that occurred.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty Wistar rats were divided into 10 non-smoking animals and 10 animals exposed to cigarette smoke. After 6 months of smoke exposure samples were collected from both exposed and unexposed salivary glands for histological examination under both transmitted and polarized light microscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Changes in the glands of exposed animals included involution of the cytoplasm and nucleus of the acinar cells and the presence of an inflammatory infiltrate. There was an abnormal accumulation of type I collagen in the stroma and an enlarged interacinar space filled with extracellular matrix.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Passive smoking led to substantial structural changes in the salivary glands which could significantly affect function.
authors.affiliation: Tissue Morphology Laboratory, Department of Morphology and Basic Pathology, Faculty of Medicine of Jundiaí, Jundiaí, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Juliana Mandato
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ferragut
authors.forename: Marcelo Rodrigues
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: da Cunha
authors.forename: Cesar Alexandre Fabrega
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: Ricardo Noboro
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Isayama
authors.forename: Eduardo José
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Caldeira
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D019570:Inhalation Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution