Salivary glucose and antioxidant defense markers in type II diabetes mellitus

To evaluate salivary antioxidant defense markers, their correlation with salivary glucose, and glycemic status in type II diabetes mellitus (DM). Materials and methods: The study included 53 diabetic patients and 40 healthy subjects. Salivary glucose, blood glucose, and uric acid (UA) were determined by specific enzymatic methods. Total antioxidant activity (AOA), glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and total protein were determined spectrophotometrically. Results: Salivary UA (3.12 vs. 1.89 mg/dL), GSH (47 vs. 11.92 μg/mL), and total protein (375.12 vs. 202.23 mg/dL) were significantly higher (P 0.001; r = 0.455, 0.735, 0.498 respectively) and AOA (653.1 vs. 897.3 μmol/L) was significantly lower in the DM group (P 0.001, r = –0.431) compared to healthy controls. Among the antioxidant enzymes, CAT was significantly lower (1214 vs. 9468.9 kat) in the DM group (P 0.001, r = –0.886). Spearman correlation analyses within the diabetic group showed a strong positive association between salivary glucose and blood glucose (P 0.001, r = 0.9), salivary glucose and GSH, and salivary glucose and UA. Salivary glucose showed a negative correlation with AOA and CAT (P = 0.008, r = –0.447) in the diabetic group. Conclusion: Findings of this study, showing a strong correlation between salivary glucose and blood glucose as well as changes in antioxidant components in the DM group, suggest that saliva can be used for the diagnosis and management of DM.