title: Expression patterns of CD66a and CD117 in the mouse submandibular gland.
abstract: The epithelial tissue of the salivary gland consists of the acinar and ductal parts, the latter of which is further divided into the intercalated, striated and excretory duct segments and is the residential site for salivary stem/progenitor cells. In the present study, the expression patterns of two cell surface molecules, CD66a and CD117, were investigated in the adult mouse submandibular glands (SMG) by immunofluorescence microscopy. Combinations of the two molecules differentially marked several types of SMG epithelial cells, including acinar cells (CD66a-intense, CD117-negative), intercalated duct cells (CD66a-intense, CD117-positive), a subset of the striated and excretory duct cells (CD66a-weak, CD117-positive). Most of the CD117-positive ductal cells were negative for cytokeratin 5 and overlapped with the NKCC1-expressing cells. The CD117- and keratin 5-positive cells resided only in the excretory duct were suggested to correspond to the recently identified salivary stem cells. CD66a and CD117 may be useful markers to isolate several cell types consisting of SMG epithelium and to analyze their molecular and cellular nature. Our data also suggest that CD117-expressing epithelial cells of the gland include at least two distinct populations of the stem/progenitor cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery 1, Osaka Dental University, Osaka, Japan. Electronic address: akiratakeyama@me.com.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takeyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Osaka Dental University, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Osaka Dental University, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ikeo
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery 1, Osaka Dental University, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Shosuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Osaka Dental University, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Yohki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hieda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D018987:Salivary Ducts / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D013363:Submandibular Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; C486183:Ceacam1 protein, mouse; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit
keywords: CD117; CD66a; Mice; Salivary gland; Stem cells