Altered Salivary Alpha-Amylase Secretion in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis

Abstract

Purpose Patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) frequently present with psychological disturbances as well as dysfunctions of autonomic nervous system (ANS). Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) secretion is predominantly controlled by sympathetic nervous activity, while salivary fluid secretion is by parasympathetic nervous activity. Thus, it is speculated that alterations of salivary secretion may be addressed in UC populations. Methods Thirty-five UC patients as well as 32 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled. Saliva samples before and after citric acid stimulation were collected from each participant, and salivary flow rate (SFR) was calculated accordingly. Western blotting and quantitative PCR were applied to measure the sAA level and sAA gene (AMY1) copy number, respectively. The psychological disorders, anxiety and depression, were evaluated by the scoring system of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) for each participant. Results We observed robustly increased prevalence of anxiety (p < 0.001) as well as depression (p < 0.001) in UC patients relative to controls. Interestingly, we detected elevated basal (p = 0.015) and stimulated (p = 0.021) sAA levels in the UC populations compared to controls. However, no differences were found for basal (p = 0.643) or stimulated (p = 0.402) SFR between the two study groups. Besides, AMY1 gene copy number was comparable between UC patients and controls. Conclusions Our results reveal an overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system and a normal activity of the parasympathetic nervous system in the UC population.

T2DM patients with depression have higher levels of hyperglycemia and cognitive decline than T2DM patients

“…This finding is consistent with the studies showing that the elevated salivaryalpha amylase level was associated with depression severity in the major depressive disorder patients [42,43]. According to other studies, elevated secretion of salivary-alpha amylase was associated with a higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders [15,27]. Thus, we suggested that salivary-alpha amylase activity was correlated with depression in T2DM patients with depression in this study.…”

“…Participants were instructed not to eat, drink, or exercise before collection. To collect saliva samples, the passive drooling method was used [27]. Saliva was stored at −20˚C until the analysis of salivary-alpha amylase activity [27].…”

“…To collect saliva samples, the passive drooling method was used [27]. Saliva was stored at −20˚C until the analysis of salivary-alpha amylase activity [27]. The salivary-alpha amylase activity was measured by using a commercial salivary alpha amylase kinetic enzyme assay kit [28].…”

Salivary Biomarkers for Diagnosis of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: A Systematic Review

“…The next diagnostic biomarker can be salivary α-amylase (sAA) described by Xu et al [ 27 ] in UC patients. According to the literature, this protein’s production positively correlates with the copy number of AMY1 gene [ 87 , 88 ].…”

Salivary Stress/Immunological Markers in Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis

“…Meanwhile, an increase in the concentration of alpha-amylase compared to healthy controls was observed in both the stimulated and unstimulated saliva of UC patients, although no significant changes were observed in the flow rates. Changes in alpha-amylase secretion were not associated with an increase in the number of copies of the gene responsible for alpha-amylase [ 55 ]. The authors of the latter study concluded that the elevated alpha-amylase secretion in UC patients might be due to the involvement of sympathetic overactivity in the UC population.…”