Abstract
Conclusion
The responses of the oral and pharyngeal mucous glands to injections of pilocarpine, atropine, and morphine and of the oral glands to epinephrine, resemble those of the salivary glands, an observation which can be explained on the basis of the similar dual innervation of both groups of glands through the cranial autonomic and sympathetic systems.
When Schaefer and Moore 1 gave pilocarpine to dogs without parotid and submaxillary glands, they observed the accumulation of a small quantity of exceedingly viscid mucus which appeared to be formed by the oral mucous glands. Langley, 2 in referring to the effects of suprarenal extracts found that they caused “a lively secretion from all the salivary glands and some secretion from the buccal, esophageal, and tracheal mucous glands.”
During the course of experiments upon the oral and pharyngeal mucous membranes, I observed the effect of the following drugs upon their secretory activity: pilocarpine, atropine, morphine, and epinephrine.
1. Pilocarpine sulfate. In Table I are listed the quantities of mucous secretion which I obtained at 5 minute intervals after intravenous injections of 0.2, 0.3, and 0.5 mg. per kg. of pilocarpine in 3 dogs each weighing 10 kilos. The salivary and orbital glands had been extirpated and the remaining secretion was collected from an esophageal fistula. A total of 35 experiments were performed upon these dogs. Pilocarpine injections result in the production of surprisingly large quantities of mucous secretion.
2. Atropine sulfate. Atropine in sufficient dosage abolished the reflex secretion of the mucous glands and their response to pilocarpine as well.
3. Morphine sulfate. The subcutaneous injection of 15 mg. of morphine produced, in the dogs described above, a transitory augmentation of the mucous secretion coinciding in time with the licking and retching movements and lasting 5 to 10 minutes. During the succeeding period of depression the secretion was normal or subnormal in quantity.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.