Variability and ultrastructural histochemical localization of sulphates in the salivary glands of rodents and Lagomorpha.

Stainings were effected on an ultrastructural histochemical level to localize sulphomucins in the submandibular and sublingual glands of growing mice and rabbits. Sulphates behave in an entirely different way in the salivary glands of Lagomorpha and in those of Rodents. In growing rabbits sulphates can be demonstrated in both glands; at maturity they can be demonstrated only in the sublingual gland and no longer in the submandibular gland. In the salivary glands of Rodents, sulphates cannot be demonstrated histochemically in new born subjects or in adults. The histochemical results are compared to the biochemical ones, and discrepancies, where present, are discussed.