Standardization of a new minor salivary gland collecting procedure for the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis.

The objective of this investigation was to further refine a technique developed 
to serve as a new test procedure for the diagnosis of 
cystic fibrosis of the pancreas utilizing a more quantitative approach for 
measuring, in a standard fashion, the volume of secretion of the 
minor salivary glands of the lower labial mucosa, which can be 
collected over a fixed period of time. It was also hoped 
that such standardization would facilitate the more accurate study of all 
aspects of study of minor salivary gland secretion collected in this 
fashion. From the findings, it is obvious that less minor salivary 
gland secretion was collected from cystic fibrosis patients than from normal 
control subjects, using a capillary tube test. This may be due, 
in part, to an increased viscosity of minor-salivary-gland saliva in cystic 
fibrosis. Unfortunately, viscosity studies were beyond the scope of this investigation. 
The results indicate that the relative differences between the volume of 
minor salivary secretion collected at a standard test site and that 
collected over the total lower labial mucosa are similar. The volumetric 
differences in minor salivary secretion have again been found to be 
distinctive enough to suggest that studies be continued in this area 
to further refine a diagnostic test procedure for cystic fibrosis of 
the pancreas. At the present time, studies are in progress to 
measure the volume of minor salivary secretion at a standard test 
site employing an electronic technique. It is hoped that this approach 
may permit the elimination of viscosity as a variable. 