الفهرس 
Streptozotocin Induced Diabetes MellitusOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Saliva and salivary glands are considered the strongest link between oral and systemic health. The
submandibular salivary gland is one of the major salivary glands. It is a compound, tubuloalveolar
exocrine gland that produces about 60% of salivary output. It is located in the submandibular
triangle, behind and below the free border of the mylohyoid muscle with a small extension lying
above the mylohyoid muscle. Meanwhile, the sublingual salivary gland is located in the sublingual
fossa, between the floor of the mouth and the mylohyoid muscle. It is composed of major mixed
predominate mucous and minor pure mucous glands. The mucous cells possess foamy cytoplasm and basal
flattened nuclei (Ten Cate, 1998; Dodds et al., 2005).
In humans, saliva lubricates food to assist deglutition, moistens the buccal mucosa that is
important for speech and provides an aqueous solvent necessary for taste. The submandibular
salivary gland also secretes antimicrobial agents as IgA, lysozymes and lactoferrin (Tucker, 2007).
Diabetes mellitus is a significant healthcare problem concern worldwide that has different
pathological effects on body tissues and organs. It is a chronic metabolic disease that affects the
ability of body cells to utilize blood glucose resulting in hyperglycemia. Diabetes mellitus can be
classified into two main types which are type 1 or insulin dependent diabetes mellitus and type 2
or non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. One of the
important organs to be studied under the effects of diabetes
mellitus was the salivary glands (Maiese et al., 2007).
Diabetic patients are unable to produce adequate saliva. They suffer from long term problems
including xerostomia (dry mouth), mucositis, rampant dental caries and infections of the mouth and
pharynx as well as difficulty in swallowing, speech and taste. Also, altered salivary flow rate and
composition are common characters of diabetic patients. These conditions dramatically reduce
quality of life and can also be the source of systemic infections that may threaten patients’
survival (Noorafshan, 2006).
Apoptosis is a morphologically distinct form of programmed cell death that plays an important and
major role in cellular development and homeostasis (Bowen et al., 1998). Apoptosis is the process
involved in regulation of salivary gland structure when affected by some stimuli. Accelerated DNA
fragmentations (apoptosis) were detected in the salivary glands’ epithelial cells with diabetes
induction (Moore et al., 2001; Abikshyeet et al., 2012).
Stem cells are self renewing, clonogenic and multipotent cells having tremendous potential for the
treatment of several human diseases and potential source for regenerative medicine and tissue
replacement after injury or disease. They are classified as embryonic and adult stem cells based on
their respective origins either from blastocyst stage embryos or from niches of mature adult
tissues and bone marrow (Nelson et al., 2006; Zhao et al., .