Salivary secretion was collected in fasting patients either under resting conditions or while chewing parafilm. Secretion was obtained in 8 successive 15-min samples. Each patient was studied under intravenous saline and under secretin infusion (1.250 CU/kg·h). In neither condition did the investigators observe any significant variations during secretin infusion in terms of salivary volume, bicarbonate, or fucose and hexosamine outputs