[A non-exocrine function of the submaxillary gland].
Emphasizing on the concept of "banalization" and multifactoriality of the signal molecules of the cellular communication, the authors review data of the literature which allow to attribute to some substances synthetized by the submandibular salivary glands (SSG), mainly growth factors as EGF and NGF, an endocrine role. Because of their direct secretion in the oral cavity or their overflow into bloodstream the consequences of the deficit of these growth factors could be correlated with some oral pathologies such as aphthous lesions, puberty and pregnancy gingivitis, which endocrine etiology is often assumed, as well as autoimmune salivary pathologies. Thus, the results obtained after SSG removal furnish a support for envisaging a link between the submandibular salivary glands and the reproductive function (decrease in plasma LH level, ultrastructural changes of the Leydig cells, spontaneous abortion) and with some structures of the central nervous system such as hypothalamus (variation in hypothalamic TRH content) or pineal gland (decrease in pineal cyclic AMP content). Particularly interesting is the possibility that NGF secreted in blood by the SSG during a stress may represent the signal able to stimulate the peripheral immunity cells as well as to inform the central nervous system through a neuronal pathway via the superior cervical ganglia and the pineal gland. This brain afferent information could be associated with an increased hypothalamic NGF synthesis, also observed during stress, whose finality might be to stimulate the secretion of hypophyseal ACTH, the main hormone involved in the interrelationship between endocrine and immune response.