Alteration by ouabain of rat submandibular glands function.

1. Effects of various doses of intraperitoneal ouabain (1,2 and 5 mg/kg) on rat submandibular saliva were investigated in this study. 2. Potassium and calcium and their product (K+ x Ca2+) were found to be elevated in all groups. 3. Changes in salivary flow were not the major cause of the alterations in electrolytes. 4. Protein concentrations were elevated in the doses of 1 and 2 mg/kg of the drug and somewhat reduced in the dose of 5 mg/kg of ouabain but still above the base line. 5. The results show that there is an ouabain-induced close parallelism between magnesium and total protein secretion from rat submandibular glands.