Salivary lysosomal exoglycosidases profiles in patients with insulin-dependent and noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND In this study we have investigated the effects of type I (insulin-dependent) and II (non-insulin dependent) diabetes mellitus on the specific activity and the output of salivary exoglycosidases: N-acetyl-β-hexosoaminidase (HEX), and its isoenzymes A and B (HEX A, HEX B), and β-glucuronidase (GLU) in well controlled diabetic patients compared to healthy age-matched controls. MATERIAL AND METHODS In the saliva HEX, HEX A, HEX B and GLU were determined according to Marciniak et al. Protein was determined by the Lowry et al. method. RESULTS Our results show that in the case of type I diabetes, the significantly increased activity of salivary total HEX is mainly due to the significantly increased HEX A specific activity. Significantly increased HEX specific activity in DM II is an outcome of significantly increased HEX A as well as HEX B specific activities in comparison to the appropriate healthy control. Our results showed a significant increase in the specific activity of GLU in saliva of type II diabetes patients. The output of lysosomal exoglycosidases showed a similar significant increase compared to the healthy control, in both groups of diabetes mellitus patients. CONCLUSIONS This study has demonstrated that non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus more strongly modify salivary glands glycoconjugates catabolism, which can be attributed to functional and morphological changes. A significant increase in the outputs of exoglycosidases in saliva of both type diabetes patients once more indicates that special attention should be paid to the oral health of these patients.