Incisional wounds of the same length and depth were made on tongue and dorsal skin of rats and the fine structural aspects of the responses of these were compared. Comparisons were made between the timing and degree of phagocytosis, the timing and rate of epithelial cell migration, of overall rate of healing, and of reformation of basal lamina and attachment complex in these two tissues. Phagocytic activity in epithelium and connective tissue of mucosa reached higher levels than in skin and the peak of activity in the epithelium of the mucosa was earlier than in the epidermis. Mononuclear phagocytes were active in phagocytosis, neutrophils showed little phagocytic activity‐Epithelial migration was found to begin earlier in mucosa than in skin. Epithelialization of the wound and repair of supporting tissue were completed earlier. The same sequence in the renewal of ultrastructural components of the hemidesmosome‐attachment complex was found in skin and mucosa, but was completed earlier at the mucosal site. Mechanical and physical as well as physiologic factors may play a role in determining the differing rates of repair in mucosa and skin.

In the present investigation, the prevalence offocallymphocytic adenitis in the submandibular salivary gland was observed in a series of 116 postmortem subjects after suitable exclusions had been made. Focal lymphocytic adenitis could not be demonstrated in the labial salivary glands. The degree of lymphocyticinfiltrationin the labial salivary glands is positively correlated with the level of focal lymphocytic adenitis in the submandibular glands in the same subject. Lymphocytic foci and lymphocytic infiltrations found under these circumstances are probably related. This finding provides conceptual support for the examination, by biopsy, of the labial glands in patients suspected of Sjögren's syndrome.

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