Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) darlingi is an important malaria vector in South and Central America; however, little is known about molecular aspects of its biology. Genomic and proteomic analyses were performed on the salivary gland products of Anopheles darlingi. A total of 593 randomly selected, salivary gland-derived cDNAs were sequenced and assembled based on their similarities into 288 cluster...

Aim: To elucidate the anti-apoptotic properties of nuclear factor kappa light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) and feedback regulation of NF-κB by nuclear factor of kappa light-chain-enhancer of activated B-cells inhibitor alpha (IκBα). Methods: We developed an in vitro model of Sjogren’s syndrome by transfecting human salivary gland (HSG) and acinar cells (NS-SV-AC) with a plasmid-e...

Human serous-type ovarian tumors contain an acidic isoenzyme of amylase. Previous attempts at purification of tumor amylases have yielded preparations contaminated with other proteins. The purification scheme presented here incorporates an affinity-chromatography procedure, with use of cycloheptaamylose linked to epoxy-activated Sepharose, that is specific for alpha-amylase (EC 3.2.1.1). Purifi...

Clinical aspects and biochemical properties in the saliva of 21 patients prior to and following radiotherapy for head and neck cancer were evaluated (experimental group) and compared with the same properties in a control group of 21 subjects free of cancer. Salivary flow was evaluated by measuring the time necessary, in seconds, for the output of 2 ml of stimulated saliva; and the buffering cap...

OBJECTIVE To localise and characterise follicular dendritic cells (FDC) present in autoimmune lesions of primary Sjögren syndrome. METHODS Cryostat sections of labial salivary glands from 15 patients with primary Sjögren syndrome were examined by an indirect immunoperoxidase technique and monoclonal antibodies to a panel of dendritic cell markers. Tonsils from two controls were also examined ...

Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) has been suggested to reflect stress-related body changes. Psychosocial stress increases the release of salivary alpha-amylase, which reflects the activity of the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary (SAM) system. Therefore, it is presumed that sAA measurement is a useful tool for evaluating the SAM system. In addition, previous studies examining the response of sAA levels...

Introduction: Tobacco smoke is involved in the pathogenesis of several diseases in different body systems. Saliva is the first body fluid that confront inhaled cigarette smoke which is injurious to the oral cavity and is associated with several oral diseases and cancer. The aim of our study was to evaluate the influence of smoking on the activity of alpha-amylase in the saliva of healthy smoker...

This study aimed to investigate the molecular mechanism of diabetes mellitus (DM)-induced dry mouth and an application of natural products from Ixeris dentata (IXD), a recently suggested regulator of amylase secretion in salivary cells. Vehicle-treated or diabetic rats were orally treated with either water or an IXD extract for 10 days to observe the effect on salivary flow. We found that the I...

Objective Periodontitis is one of the main diseases in the oral cavity that causes tooth loss. The host immune response and inflammatory factors have important role in periodontal tissue. The current study was done with the objective to determine the effect of scaling and root planning on the salivary concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-1-alpha (IL-1α). Metho...

AIMS/INTRODUCTION Studies suggest that salivary proteins can be used as potential non-invasive markers for clinical diagnosis and screening for diabetes. Previous reports showed that plasma alpha 2-macroglobulin (A2MG) levels were higher in diabetic patients, especially with diabetic complications. We investigated the relationship between salivary A2MG values and clinical characteristics in pat...