Use of saliva for hormone examinations

Concentration of testosterone in serum and saliva in adolescent boys

Elizabeta, Dadić-Nikoloska, Ljudmila, Efremovska, Lidija, Todorovska, Vesela, Ivanovska-Maleska, Jasmina, Pluncević-Gligoroska

Glasnik Antropološkog društva Srbije

44

317

322

1820-7936

https://scindeks.ceon.rs/article.aspx?query=ISSID%26and%267459&page=0&so...

2009-2021/11/01/13:07:57

Salivary monitoring of steroid hormone levels has many advantages over the more conventional serum analysis. Non-invasive, simple, safe, stress free and painless allows for multiple collections outside of hospital settings. To see if saliva is valid substitute for serum in assay of testosterone we determined the concentrations of total testosterone in serum and salivary testosterone. Testosterone is androgen, involved in musculoskeletal development, general health and libido. With respect to circadian and seasonal fluctuations of testosterone the sampling was carried out at a standardized time of the day (between 9.00-11.00 a.m) all during November. Saliva and blood samples were collected from 44 boys volunteers ageing 11-19 years and assayed using a highly specific RIA-DSL 4100 assay. (by adapting a commercially available serum testosterone kit - Garanger D.A et al. 1999 for saliva). On average salivary testosterone levels were 1.2 % of plasma levels. We found a highly significant correlations between testosterone in serum and salivary testosterone in the examined group (R=0,73). This high sero-salivary testosterone correlations makes saliva a useful diagnostic tool. Concentration of testosterone in saliva reflect free testosterone circulating in the blood, not bound with proteins marking of which supplies more reliable clinical information than total plasma concentration.