Salivary enzymes
Howard. H . Chauncey, P h.D .* Boston, Mass.
A high positive correlation has been
found between severe periodontal disease
and high protease activity in human sub­
jects. Although the exact role that pro­
teases play in the initiation and progres­
sion of periodontal disease is not clear,
a review of the literature leads to the
following theory: Salivary proteases,
alone or acting syngergistically with
hyaluronidase, are capable of penetrat­
ing oral epithelium in areas of irritation
and lysing the collagen fibers and ground
substance in the underlying connective
tissue. This could render a region more
susceptible to bacterial invasion.
Saliva is a complex m ixture of liquid and
particulate m atter which originates from
several sources. T herefore, it becomes
requisite th a t aspects other th an a
simple biochemical analysis of this heter­
ogenous m ixture be evaluated in the
study of salivary enzymes. Before any
attem pt can be m ade to understand the
influence of enzymes on the physiological
processes occurring in the oral cavity, the
function, origin, characteristics and in­
terrelation of these enzymes m ust be
determ ined. A t present m ore th an 30
enzymes have been found in saliva.
T able 1 contains a listing and classifica­
tion of the better known enzymes.
From am ong the enzymes which have
been classified as carbohydrases, amylase
is undoubtedly the best known. This
enzyme is one of the three in this cate­
gory th a t are known to be secreted by
the salivary glands. W hereas there is
little inform ation available concerning
the ability of oral microorganisms to
attack starch, fortunately, or perhaps u n ­
fortunately, the literature abounds with
studies on the amylase content of whole
saliva. H u m an saliva exhibits consider­
able variation in amylase activity.1'4
Pickerill5 was am ong the first to note th at
the amylase content of mixed saliva in­
creased as the secretion rate increased.
T his phenom enon, however, is in con­
tradiction to later observations8 which
indicate th a t the enzyme titers of the
pure glandular secretions are independ­
ent of the rate of flow. This latter find­
ing is supported by a recent study of
Schneyer’s7 in w hich the amylase con­
tent of parotid, submaxillary and sub­
lingual saliva was measured. Schneyer
noted th a t the amylase content of these
three fluids, particularly the parotid
which contained four times as much
amylase as the submaxillary and sublin­
gual secretions, was n o t affected by-
varying the rate of flow. Schneyer8 has
found, also, th a t whole saliva collected