part of part of has part has part has_part capable of capable of acinar cell acinar cell of salivary gland 2011-03-14T02:22:22Z salivary gland acinar cell salivary acinar cell An acinar cell that is part of the salivary gland epithelium, responsible for synthesizing and secreting the primary saliva essential for oral digestion, antimicrobial defense, and mucosal immunity. It features apical-basal polarity with apical secretory granules, and tight junctions that maintain polarity and regulate calcium-dependent saliva exocytosis triggered by parasympathetic and sympathetic signals (Ambudkar, 2015). This cell functions in coordination with contractile myoepithelial cells, which aid saliva flow through the ducts into the oral cavity (Khan et al., 2022). In mice and humans, acinar cell development relies on the transcription factor SOX2 (Emmerson et al., 2017), with self-renewal achieved primarily through acinar cell self-duplication and supported by progenitor populations during injury and regeneration (Aure et al., 2016). salivary gland glandular cell calcium-ion regulated exocytosis secretory granule innate immune response saliva secretion salivary gland epithelium