Physiological concentration of human salivary histatins in glandular secretions and whole saliva

Abstract

Histatins are a group of histidine-rich antimicrobial proteins present in human salivary secretions. Previous studies have shown that histatins play an important role in the maintenance of enamel integrity and defense against oral bacteria and fungal pathogens in the oral cavity. Because histatins differ in their ability to inhibit blastopore viability and germ tube formation, it is important to be able to quantitatively determine individual histatin concentrations. Such determinations would be essential for understanding and comparing the antibacterial activities of the saliva in healthy and diseased persons, and in finding a relation between individual histatin concentration and function. The present study is focused on determination of the physiological concentration of the major histatins 1, 3, and 5 in glandular secretions and whole saliva in order to evaluate the relationship of individual histatin concentrations to their functional capacity in the oral cavity. Human parotid and submandibular / sublingual secretions were collected from 19 healthy donors in the presence and absence of gustatocy stimulation. Whole saliva was collected from the same group of donors with masticatocy stimulation. A cationic polyaccylamide gel electrophoresis system (cationic PAGE) was used in combination with scanning densitometcy to measure the [TRUNCATED].