Long-term submandibular duct obstruction is thought to cause irreversible atrophy and dysfunction of the submandibular gland. As an atrophic gland may be induced clinically by chronic or recurrent infection, it is generally removed surgically. However, the regenerative capacity of atrophic submandibular glands after long-term obstruction is not completely understood. We studied the regenerative capacity of the mouse submandibular duct using an aneurysm clip ligation model. We documented changes in the size, histologic structure and gene expression of the submandibular gland after 2 months of ligation, and 1 week, 1 month and 2 months after clip removal. Two months of ligation caused atrophy, particularly in the acinar portion. In the 2 months after clip removal, we observed a steady and significant increase in the expression of the acinar cell precursor gene cytokeratin 5 (CK5), and a significant decrease in the expression of the stem cell marker c-kit. These findings suggest that the submandibular gland retains some capacity for regeneration even after long-term obstruction, and that CK5 could serve as a marker of this regenerative process.

中文翻译：

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小鼠主要排泄导管的长期结扎释放后，c-kit和细胞角蛋白5在颌下腺中的表达。

长期的下颌下导管阻塞被认为会导致不可逆的萎缩和下颌下腺功能障碍。由于萎缩性腺在临床上可能是由慢性或复发性感染引起的，因此通常可通过手术将其切除。然而，长期阻塞后萎缩性下颌下腺的再生能力尚不完全清楚。我们使用动脉瘤夹结扎模型研究了小鼠下颌骨管的再生能力。我们记录了结扎后2个月，夹子切除后1周，1个月和2个月后下颌下腺的大小，组织学结构和基因表达的变化。结扎两个月导致萎缩，尤其是在腺泡部分。在取下夹子后的2个月内，我们观察到腺泡细胞前体基因细胞角蛋白5（CK5）的表达稳定而显着增加，而干细胞标记c-kit的表达则显着下降。这些发现表明，即使长期阻塞，下颌下腺仍具有一定的再生能力，而CK5可以作为该再生过程的标志。