What Are Sublingual Glands?

The sublingual gland is small, oblong, and is located on the deep side of the sublingual bottom of the oral cavity. There are two types of catheters, large and small, with one pair of large tubes, which open together with the submandibular glands in the sublingual moxibustion. 10 strips, opening dry sublingual surface. The human taste nerve is closely related to it. If the sublingual gland is damaged, it will directly affect the tongue's discrimination of taste. You should always pay attention to protect the sublingual gland and avoid eating food that stimulates the tongue a lot. Pay attention to oral hygiene.

The sublingual gland is small, oblong, and is located on the deep side of the sublingual bottom of the oral cavity. There are two types of catheters, large and small, with one pair of large tubes, which open together with the submandibular glands in the sublingual moxibustion. 10 strips, opening dry sublingual surface. The human taste nerve is closely related to it. If the sublingual gland is damaged, it will directly affect the tongue's discrimination of taste. You should always pay attention to protect the sublingual gland and avoid eating food that stimulates the tongue a lot. Pay attention to oral hygiene.

Chinese name

Sublingual gland

Foreign name

sublingual salivary gland

System

Digestive system

Secretions

Saliva, mucus

Classification of salivary glands

Salivary glands in the oral cavity of humans or vertebrates. A human or mammal has three large pairs of salivary glands, the parotid, submandibular, and sublingual glands, and many small salivary glands. Also called salivary gland. There are two kinds of salivary glands salivaryglands in the mouth.

(A) small salivary glands

Scattered in the oral mucosa (such as the labial, buccal, sacral, and tongue).

(B) the large salivary glands

There are three pairs of parotid, submandibular, and sublingual glands (pictured: salivary glands (right)). They are independent organs located around the mouth, but their ducts open in the oral mucosa.

1. Parotidgland of parotid gland: the largest, slightly triangular wedge, located in front of the external auditory canal, the surface of the masseter muscle, the back of the gland is particularly thick, and penetrates into the posterior mandibular fossa. The parotid duct is issued from the front end of the gland near the upper edge. It passes through the masseter muscle surface about a transverse finger below the zygomatic arch, bypasses the front edge of the masseter muscle and turns deep. A mucous membrane papilla is formed, just opposite to the maxillary second molar.

2. Submandibular gland mandibulargland: slightly oval, located in the submandibular triangle, between the mandibular body and hyoid hyoid muscle. The submandibular gland duct is issued from the inner surface of the gland, runs along the deep frontal mucosa, and opens in the sublingual flesh.

3. Sublingual gland: the smallest, slender and slightly flat. Located on the deep side of the mucous membrane at the bottom of the mouth. The excretory tube has about 5-15 small and large tubes, which directly open to the mucous membrane at the bottom of the mouth; the other end of the large tube is often merged with the submandibular gland duct or opened separately to the sublingual flesh.

Structure of the salivary glands of the sublingual gland

The salivary glands are multiple ductal vesicular glands with thin capsules. The glands are divided into many leaflets, which are composed of branched ducts and terminal acinus.

Alveoli are alveoli or vesicular, consisting of a single layer of cubic or cone-shaped glandular cells, which are the secretory parts of the glands. There are myoepithelial cells between the glandular cells and the basement membrane and between some ductal epithelium and the basement membrane. The cells are flat and have protrusions, and the cytoplasm contains actin microfilaments. The contraction of myoepithelial cells facilitates the discharge of acinar secretions. The acinar is divided into three types: serous, mucus and mixed.

(1) Serousalveolus:

Consists of serous gonadal cells. In HE stained sections, cytoplasmic staining was deeper. The basal cytoplasm has strong basophilicity. Under the electron microscope, there are more rough endoplasmic reticulum and ribosomes. The nucleus is round and located at the base. There are more eosinophilic secretory particles (zymogengranule) in the top cytoplasm. Serous acinar secretions are thinner and contain salivary amylase.

(2) Mucousalveolus: composed of mucinous gland cells. In HE-stained sections, the cytoplasm was lightly stained and secretory particles could not be displayed. The nucleus is oblate and located at the bottom of the cell. Under the electron microscope, there are thick secretory particles (mucinogengranule) in the top cytoplasm. The secretions of mucinous acinars are more viscous, mainly mucus (glycoprotein).

(3) mixed alveolus: It is composed of serous gonads and mucinous gonads. The common form is that the acinus is mainly composed of mucinous gland cells. Several serous gland cells are located at the bottom of the acinus or attached to the end of the acinus. They are arranged in a half-moon shape in the section, so they are called demilune. Semen secretions can be released into the acinar cavity through tubules between mucus cells.

The duct is an epithelial duct that branches repeatedly and is the excretory part of the gland. The end is connected to the acinus. The salivary gland duct can be divided into the following sections:

(1) Intercalatedduct: directly connected to the acinar, the diameter of the tube is thin, and the wall is a single layer of cubic or single layer of flat epithelium.

(2) striated duct: also known as secretory duct, connected to the sacral duct, the diameter of the tube, the wall is a single layer of high columnar epithelium, the nucleus is located in the middle of the cell, and the cytoplasm is acidophilic. Vertical longitudinal lines are visible at the base of the cell, and the plasma membrane folds and mitochondria arranged vertically under the electron microscope. This structure increases the surface area of the base of the cell and facilitates the transfer of water and electrolyte between cells and interstitial fluid. Striated ductal epithelial cells can actively absorb Na + in secretions, drain k + into the lumen, and reabsorb or drain water, so it can regulate the electrolyte content and the amount of saliva in saliva.

(3) Interlobular ducts and common ducts: the striate ducts merge to form interlobular ducts, which run in the interlobular connective tissue. The interlobular ducts are thick and the wall is a pseudostratified columnar epithelium. The interlobular ducts merged and thickened step by step, and finally one or more common duct openings were formed in the mouth. The duct near the mouth opening gradually became a stratified flat epithelium, continuous with the oral epithelium.

Structural features

1. The parotid glands are pure serous gonads with long sacral ducts and short striated ducts. The secretion contains more salivary amylase and less mucus.

2. The submandibular glands are mixed glands, with more serous acinars and less mucinous and mixed acinars. Calyx tube short, striated tube developed. The secretion contains less salivary amylase and more mucus.

3 The sublingual gland is a mixed gland, which is mainly mucus and mixed acinus. It has more than half a month, no sacral duct, and short striated duct. The secretions are mainly mucus.

Sublingual Gland Cyst Formation and Clinical Features

Sublingual gland cysts are classified into extravasated and retained cysts according to their formation mechanism. Exudative cysts are mainly caused by sublingual ducts or acinar ruptures and leakage of saliva; retention cysts are mainly caused by chronic inflammation, salivary stones, and damage to the ducts due to chronic inflammation of the sublingual ducts, salivary stones, and injury. Caused by. The former has no epithelial lining. The Northern Medicine reported that 97.75% of the sublingual gland cysts had cyst walls with granulation and fibrous connective tissue without a typical epithelial lining. Only 2% of the cases in this group of patients can see part of the epithelium, so most of the sublingual gland cysts are extravasated cysts. Reports on the incidence of extraoral (subsidence) sublingual gland cysts are quite different, with Zhao Yifang et al. Reporting 19.8% and Chen Dianlian et al. Reporting 55%. The incidence of subsided sublingual gland cysts in this group of cases was 32.46%. In the study of the formation of sag sublingual gland cysts, the Nathan study found that 42% of patients had a sublingual glandular hyoid muscle hernia, which was located slightly 2/3 of the front of the muscle slightly to the lingual side of the mandible and 20% under the tongue Glands protrude into the submandibular area. This is the anatomical basis for the occurrence of subsided sublingual gland cysts. Increased intraoral pressure is also an inducement for the occurrence of sunken sublingual gland cysts. In this group of cases, 12 cases of submandibular sublingual cysts or sublingual recurrence after sublingual surgery occurred due to suborbital surgery such as laser, sublingual or submandibular duct stone removal, or submucous gland cyst removal. Or Jixia District development. Soft tissue scars at the bottom of the mouth help the cyst to protrude to the submandibular or subcondylar area. There may be three cases of the formation of the cyst wall of the sublingual gland cyst: 1) the fiber cyst wall is derived from the connective tissue in the gland or the capsule of the gland; 2) the proliferation of inflammatory reactive fiber connective tissue; .