Salivary /gb2-microglobulin in NZB/WFI mice

Unstimulated parotid and submandibular/sublingual saliva from New Zealand black/WF1 (NZB/WFI) mice as collected by microcapillary (1 μ1), and the content of β2-microglobulin (β2-MG) determined by a sandwich enzyme immunoassay. Salivary β2-MG contents of control C57BL/6 and NZB/WFI mice (45 weeks of age) were 0.68 ± 0.18 μg/ml and 1.42 ± 0.21 μg/ml (mean ± SD), respectively, from the parotid gland and 0.62 ± 0.17 μg/ml and 1.34 ± 0.2l μl/ml, respectively, from the submandibular sublingual glands. However, the concentration of β2-MG was not increased in the NZB/WFI mice at 5 and 20 weeks of age. Saliva from NZB/WF1 mice (45 weeks old) was fractionated by micro two-dimensional gel electrophoresis; it exhibited both qualitative and quantitative changes in protein composition in comparison to the two-dimensional at 5 weeks of age. These observations parallel those in saliva from patients with Sjögrenʹs syndrome.