The Relative Contributions of Different Salivary Glands to the Blood Group Activity of Whole Saliva in Humans

Abstract

Abstract. A quantitative haemagglutination‐inhibition method suitable for estimation of the concentration of blood group substance (BGS) A in saliva has been developed based on the quantitative haemagglutination method of D ybkjaer (1966). The coefficient of variation for estimation of BGS concentration in a given sample of saliva varied from 2 to 6%. The technique was used to quantitate the secretion of BGS A in different types of saliva from 12 young adult secretors. Sublingual saliva and secretions from the minor mucous glands (MMG) contained significantly more BGS (p<0.01) than did whole or submandibular saliva whilst parotid saliva contained negligible BGS. The sublingual and MMG secretions appear to contribute about 70% of the BGS in whole saliva, the remainder coming from submandibular saliva. Because different saliva collection conditions may result in different proportional contributions from the various salivary glands, quantitative studies on secretion of BGS in whole saliva are difficult to interpret and submandibular saliva would seem the secretion of choice for population and family studies.