北海道歯学雑誌;第38巻 記念特集号

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Histological aspect of the effects of soft food on major salivary glands

Takahashi, Shigeru;Uekita, Hiroki;Kato, Tsuyoshi;Yuge, Fumihiko;Takebuchi, Rui;Taniwaki, Hiroto;Domon, Takanori

Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/67334
KEYWORDS : soft food;major salivary glands;atrophy;cell proliferation;apoptosis

Abstract

The modern Japanese population favors soft foods, which do not demand extensive mastication. However, daily intake of soft foods is considered to have unfavorable influences on the mind and body. This is especially within the oral maxillofacial region. Consequently, many studies using experimental animals, feed a liquid or powdered diet and indicate that soft foods negatively affect the jaw bones, masseter muscle, and temporomandibular joint. Furthermore, since a report by Hall and Schneyer in 1964, the effects of soft foods on salivary glands have been under investigation. Soft food intake induces atrophic alteration to the parotid glands in adult animals. In these glands, shrinkage, suppression of proliferation, and apoptotic deletion of acinar cells were observed. In growing animals fed soft foods, parotid gland growth is inhibited through the suppression of an increase of acinar cell size and of acinar cell proliferation, but not through apoptosis. These findings support that unfavorable effects on parotid glands are induced by the intake of soft food regardless of growing or mature phases. However, different observations exist between these two phases. Despite accumulated knowledge on parotid glands, the debate whether soft food affects submandibular and sublingual glands remains controversial. It is the case that many studies agree soft food unfavorably affects parotid glands to a greater extent than submandibular and sublingual glands. This article reviews the histological effects of soft food on major salivary glands and introduces recent data from our research group.

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