Abstract:
Diabetes Mellitus (DM) has been associated with salivary glands dysfunction and disorders. Epidermal Growth
Factor (EGF) is highly important in the process of wound healing in different parts of the body. The aim of the
present study is to investigate the capacity of EGF to reverse the side effects of Streptozotocin (STZ) induced
diabetes in the submandibular salivary glands of adult Albino male rats, through immunohistochemical
localization of cytokeratin in the parenchyma of the glands. Sixty rats were used in this study and were divided
into three equal groups, a control group, an STZ induced group and EGF group where STZ induced rats are
treated with a daily EGF injection of a dose of 10 µg/Kg body weight for two months. The overall expression of
cytokeratin in the submandibular salivary glands of STZ induced rats decreased significantly when compared to
the control group. However, in EGF group, cytokeratin expression levels were restored to values that were nearly
equal to normal levels. Daily intraperitoneal injection of epidermal growth factor in a dose of 10 µg/Kg body
weight for two months, helped reverse the negative side effects of DM in STZ induced rats. However, a small
amount of permanent damage was still evident. Future research will be conducted to confirm the above findings
through immunohistochemical expression of myosin and E-cadherin as well as ultrastructural examination.