P2 Receptors as Therapeutic Targets in the Salivary Gland: From Physiology to Dysfunction.

ABSTRACT: Although often overlooked in our daily lives, saliva performs a host of necessary physiological functions, including lubricating and protecting the oral cavity, facilitating taste sensation and digestion and maintaining tooth enamel. Therefore, salivary gland dysfunction and hyposalivation, often resulting from pathogenesis of the autoimmune disease Sjögren's syndrome or from radiotherapy of the head and neck region during cancer treatment, severely reduce the quality of life of afflicted patients and can lead to dental caries, periodontitis, digestive disorders, loss of taste and difficulty speaking. Since their initial discovery in the 1970s, P2 purinergic receptors for extracellular nucleotides, including ATP-gated ion channel P2X and G protein-coupled P2Y receptors, have been shown to

SUBMITTER: Khalafalla MG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7082426 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature