Epidermal growth factor concentrations in submandibular salivary gland, plasma, liver, bile, kidneys and urine of male mice: dynamics after phenylephrine injection.

To elucidate the dynamics of epidermal growth factor (EGF) in mice, I studied the effects of excision of the submandibular salivary gland (SMG) and intravenous injection of phenylephrine in adult male mice on the concentration of EGF in plasma, bile, urine, the SMG, the liver and the kidneys. After excision of SMG (sx), the mean concentration of EGF in the liver decreased. Phenylephrine increased the concentrations of EGF in the plasma and liver in both intact and sx mice. In the intact mice, the EGF concentrations also increased in the bile and kidneys but not in the urine. The expected dramatic decrease occurred in the SMG EGF. I conclude that alpha-adrenergic stimulation causes 1) in intact mice release of EGF from SMG into blood, from which it is excreted into bile but not into urine, and 2) release of EGF even from tissues other than SMG.