Salivary Sensors for Quantification of Stress Response Biomarker

Abstract

Interest in the salivary indices of the individual psychosomatic stress response has focused on various components of the salivary proteome including α-amylase, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulphate (DHEA-S), testosterone, chromogranin A, and secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA). The nonintrusive nature of saliva collection and the minimal processing required renders saliva an attractive alternate to blood and urine. The ease of saliva collection greatly facilitates subject compliance and allows repeat, self-administered sampling in naturalistic settings without the need for specialized personnel or equipment. Correspondingly, saliva is increasingly utilized in psychobiological studies. Recent developments in technology platforms allow near real-time detection and quantification of salivary stress response indicators. This review focuses on the current status of these developments in salivary biosensing technology and future technological advances that will render biomarkers more field-practical and accessible to end-users in a cost-effective manner. The maturation salivary biosensor prototypes into commercial devices will happen as the functionality, performance and production costs improve. In the long term, the growing convergence of proteomic and genomic profiling, biosensing technology and bioinformatics will allow salivary biomarker-based strategies to become ingrained in experimental studies and eventually, lead to better risk assessment, diagnosis and a patient-centric management of stress-related diseases.