172 



Organic Constituents of Saliva 



— Svedberg units). Apart from amylase none of these components 

 has been definitely characterized. By the gel diffusion technique 

 8 components have been recognized in tests between human mixed 

 saliva and antisera prepared against it. Of these 4 components 

 appear also to be present in plasma but the other 4 are not. In 



Serum 



Parotid 

 saliva 



Submaxillary 

 saliva 



• * • I I 





Serum 



I 



Fig. 9.1. Paper electrophoresis of human parotid and submaxillary saliva 



compared with blood serum. Michaelis buffer pH 8*6. 



(Kostlin and Rauch, 1957.) 



multiple myeloma the characteristic abnormal serum proteins have 

 also been found in the saliva (Gabl and Egger, 1959). 



Logically studies of the composition of salivary proteins should 

 be preceded by their isolation in the pure state, but so far this 

 has been accomplished only in the case of amylase and lysozyme, 

 neither of which are mucoproteins. All studies on "mucin" have 

 been carried out on impure fractions often prepared by methods 

 that we know produce partial degradation. Indeed glycoside bonds 



