Volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs), which are
major sources of oral malodor, are produced by
putrefactive activities of bacteria. Saliva provides
easily degradable protein substrates, and most
proteins are glycosylated. We hypothesized that
oral malodor would be associated with enhanced
proteolysis or deglycosylation in saliva. The
purpose of this study was to evaluate properties
of glycoproteins in saliva and assess their
association with VSC levels. Subjects were 88
patients who visited “the Fresh Breath Clinic”,
Dental Hospital, Tokyo Medical and Dental
University. They were classified into malodor (n =
67) and non-malodor (n = 21) groups. After
collecting saliva, the amounts of the total proteins
and carbohydrate were determined. Molecular size
distributions of salivary proteins/glycoproteins
were analyzed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel
electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The amount of the
total salivary proteins was significantly higher in
the malodor group. Major proteins/glycoproteins
observed in SDS-PAGE analyses showed similar
distributions between the two groups. In the
malodor group, the salivary protein concentrations
were positively correlated with the CH
3SH levels
(p < 0.05), and the carbohydrate contents were
negatively correlated with the H
2S levels (p <
0.05). These results indicated the possibility that
salivary proteins/glycoproteins might be related to
the malodor generation.
抄録全体を表示