Determination of salivary glucose in healthy adults

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Our aim in this study was to determine the concentration of salivary glucose in healthy individualsand to compare it with the capillary glycemia. Study design: Samples of unstimulated whole saliva were collectedfrom 63 non-diabetic patients. The concentration of salivary glucose and capillary blood was measured inall of the patients. The salivary glucose was determined by enzymatic method and spectrophotometry. The datawas then analyzed using the Spearman correlation test, considering values of p<0.05 to be significant. Results:The whole sample consisted of 47.6% males and 52.4% women, with an average age of 37.5±15.7 years old. Theaverage rates of unstimulated salivary flow were 0.41±0.21 ml/min among males and 0.31±0.15 ml/min amongfemales. No significant difference was found based on these results (p=0.078). The average blood glucose amongthe males studied was 100.05±13.51 mg/dL, and among females, it was 99.5±13.9 mg/dL. The average salivaryglucose for the whole sample was 5.97±1.87 mg/dL, with 5.91±2.19 mg/dL among males and 5.97±1.56 mg/dLamong females, respectively, without presenting any significant differences (p=0.908). The concentration ofsalivary glucose did not present any statistically significant correlation with the capillary glycemia (p=0.732).Conclusions: The results suggest that the concentration of salivary glucose is not dependent on capillary glycemiaand that the concentration of salivary glucose does not present significant differences between the measurementsfor males and females (AU)