Project background
Saliva protects teeth and the oral cavity from attack by micro-organisms. In addition it lubricates the oral cavity and helps wound healing. Whole human saliva consists of water (> 90%) including enzymes, peptides, proteins, lipids, hormones and further components. An adult produces from 1 to 2 liters saliva per day.
Today blood, serum and plasma are well-accepted choice for clinical testing. This because of the blood is the circulating fluid that surrounds all tissue and organs in the body. Overlap in protein content between saliva and plasma was published by different research groups and therefore, saliva is a probably a suitable fluid for the detection of diseases biomarkers. Saliva is readily available from most individuals and can be easily collected and stored. The collection procedure of saliva is noninvasive. Furthermore, the saliva can be used for determining the concentration of drugs in clinical as well as in forensic studies. However, the sample collection of small and exact volumes of saliva may be thwarted by lack of available fluid.
Project aim and plan
In this project a new sample collection methods will be developed to be suitable for use of LC and GC systems. In addition the use of oral fluids as drug testing and as diagnostic tool will be investigated. Our goal is to use saliva as alternate to blood or plasma in clinical test for children and older people.
