Impact of Experimental Hyperlipidemia on Histology of Major Salivary Glands

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the histologic structure of major salivary glands in high-fat diet induced hyperlipidemic rats Materials and Methods: Sixteen Wistar Albino rats were grouped as control group (CG) and hyperlipidemic group (HG) CG was fed a standard chow and HG was fed a high-fat diet At the end of three months, blood samples were obtained for lipid analyses. For histological analysis, major salivary glands were evaluted under light microscopy Results: In HG; the number of intracellular lipid droplets (ILD) in the major salivary glands significantly increased while the diameter of ILD significantly increased in the parotid and sublingual glands (p<0.01) The cell types mainly affected were serous cells in the parotid and submandibular, serous demi-lunar cells and, to a lesser extent, mucous cells in the sublingual gland. Serum levels of all lipids were significantly correlated with the lipid numbers in the parotid and the sublingual glands. In the submandibular gland, only serum LDL and cholesterol levels were found to be significantly correlated with the lipid numbers (p<0.05) Conclusion: High-fat diet caused intracellular lipid accumulation in the parotid and sublingual glands without any structural alteration. Submandibular gland exerted a partial resistance to intracellular lipid accumulation