The effects of streptozotocin-induced diabetes on norepinephrine and cholinergic enzyme activities in rat parotid and submandibular glands.

Autonomic neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes mellitus, and both morphological and physiological data suggest that salivary gland function in diabetic rats is affected by neuropathies involving sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves. Therefore, glandular levels of the adrenergic neurotransmitter, norepinephrine (NE) and two cholinergic enzymes, choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE), were investigated in 6-month streptozotocin-diabetic rats. Significant, but variable, increases in total parotid NE (ng/gland) were observed in diabetic rats, whereas total submandibular NE was lower in diabetic animals than in controls. However, on a ng/mg tissue basis, NE levels in both the parotid gland, and less dramatically, in the submandibular gland were increased. Somewhat different results were observed for AChE and ChAT. AChE was marginally greater in the parotid glands of diabetic rats, whereas AChE and ChAT levels were significantly lower in diabetic than control submandibular glands. Expressed as enzymatic activity per mg tissue, submandibular gland ChAT, but not AChE, was increased. Short-term (3-day) insulin treatment of diabetic animals had no significant effects on total NE, AChE or ChAT in the parotid gland, but led to a further reduction in submandibular ChAT. With regard to function, changes in AChE appeared to be correlated with previously reported morphological assessments of parotid gland innervation in diabetic animals. Thus, the decreased response of the parotid gland in diabetic rats to parasympathetic stimulation may be related in part to the increase in AChE.