[Age-related changes of human lip salivary glands and their values in the diagnosis of Sjögren syndrome].

The lip salivary glands (LSG) from 30 non-autoimmune disease postmortem subjects and 21 biopsies of Sjögren syndrome patients were examined histopathologically. Acinar atrophy, duct dilation, fat tissue hyperplasia, fibrosis and lymphocytic infiltration (including foci) were found to be age-related changes of LSG, and indicate that attention should be paid to distinguishing such aging changes from Sjögren syndrome's histopathological changes, especially in patients over 60 years old. The immunohistological study showed some differences in IgG, IgM and IgA synthesis in the LSG between SS and age-related subjects.