Immunohistochemical Expression of Transforming Growth Factor-Alpha between Rat Submandibular and Sublingual Salivary Glands during Post-Natal Development
Shaher Bano1, Nadia Naseem2 and Sarah Ghafoor1,*
1Department of Oral Biology, University of Health Sciences, Lahore
2Department of Morbid Anatomy and Histopathology, University of Health Sciences, Lahore
* Corresponding author: sarahghafoor@uhs.edu.pk
Fig. 1.
TGF-α expression in SLG: A, longitudinal section of ductal epithelial cells of SLG of group A1 showing TGF-α intensity score of positive (3+) under 10 x magnifications; B, Ductal epithelial cells of SLG of group A2 with TGF-α intensity score of minimally positive (1+) under 10x magnification. Black arrows marks striated ducts.
Fig. 2.
Comparison between SMG and SLG of group A1 (week 5): 67% (n=4/6) of SMGs showed intensity score of 4+ (highly positive) and 33% (n=2/6) showed 3+ (positive). While 67% (n=4/6) SLGs showed a score of 3+ (positive) and 33% (n=2/6) showed 2+ (weakly positive) showing that TGF-α expression in ductal epithelial cells of SMG is almost similar to that of SLG. Fisher’s exact test showed that p-value was found to be 0.06.
Fig. 3.
Comparison of expression of TGF-α between SMG and SLG of group A2: Immunohistochemically stained section of SMG and SLG showing a highly positive staining (4+) of TGF-α in the ducts of SMG (black arrow) while the ducts of SLG (yellow arrow) are stained minimally (1+) with TGF-α suggesting that TGF-α is highly expressed in SMG as compared to SLG at week 9.
Fig. 4.
Comparison between SMG and SLG of control Group A2 (week 9): Among SMGs 50% (n=3/6) showed intensity score of 4+ (highly positive) and 50% (n=3/6) showed a score of 3+ (positive). While among the SLGs 17% (n=1/6) showed a score of 2+ (weakly positive), 33% (n=2/6) showed a score of 1+ (minimally positive) and 50% (n=3/6) showed an undetectable score showing that TGF-α expression is more in ductal epithelial cells of SMG as compared to SMG. When TGF-α expression of SMG and SLG of control group (A2) at week 9 was compared with each other, Fisher’s exact test showed a statistically significant association between them. P-value was found to be p=0.006.