The autonomic innervation of rabbit salivary glands studied electron microscopically after 5-hydroxydopamine administration

Abstract

In submandibular glands of rabbits both adrenergic and cholinergic axons are intimately associated with parenchymal cells of the intercalary ducts and the granular tubules, lying beneath the basement membrane and often in the space between the parenchymal cell and an associated myoepithelial cell. The submandibular acini receive a less intimate and less plentiful innervation by adrenergic and cholinergic axons which remain outside the basement membrane and are still associated with Schwann cells. Occasional axons of both adrenergic and cholinergic type occur beneath the basement membrane of submandibular striated ducts in intimate association with basal parts of the cells. In the parotid glands numerous adrenergic and cholinergic axons are found beneath the basement membrane of acini and intercalary ducts in intimate association with the cells.