Increase of microliths in inactive salivary glands of cat.

Secretory inactivity could be a factor in the formation of microliths, and so their occurrence in feline salivary glands after the secretory inactivity produced by parasympathectomy was investigated. Parasympathectomy was followed by a greatly increased occurrence of microliths in the submandibular salivary gland, but not in the parotid and sublingual, which may relate to residual secretory activity in these glands. This discovery suggests that secretory inactivity may indeed be a factor in the production of microliths in human salivary glands, and consequently of chronic sialadenitis and sialothiasis.