Potassium 



151 



tory process, will be found on page 206. Schneyer and Schneyer 

 (1959) have recently measured the potassium concentration in rat 

 submaxillary-sublingual saliva and found values of 45-62-5 mEq/1. 

 These values are higher than usually reported for other glands but 

 it is not clear how much of this is due to the presence of a possible 

 potassium transient. The potassium concentration in both parotid 

 and submaxillary saliva in the dog is dependent on the plasma 

 level (Burgen, 1956a; Fig. 8.8) and this is presumably true in other 



5 



Arterial plasma 

 potassium mfo/f. 



10 



Fig. 8.8. The relationship between potassium concentrations in 



dog plasma and parotid saliva. 



(Burgen, 1956a.) 



species. Saliva potassium is only slightly elevated by adrenal cor- 

 ticoids (Grad, 1952; White, Entmacher, Rubin and Leiter, 1955; 

 Martin, 1958; Burgen, unpublished) and is relatively unaffected by 

 changes in pC0 2 . In the immature dog submaxillary gland, no 

 significant changes in potassium occur as the gland matures, al- 

 though striking changes are found in the sodium, chloride and 

 bicarbonate concentrations (Wechsler, unpublished). Ferrari and 

 Hober (1933) reported that iodacetate and cyanide in appropriate 

 concentrations caused a large increase in the saliva potassium con- 

 centration. It is not clear whether this is just a transient dependent 

 on release of part of the intracellular potassium into the saliva or 



