International Joint Research Center for General Health, Precision Medicine & Nutrition, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
Department of Biomedicine and Biopharmacology, Bioengineering and Food College, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
Redox Rep. 2021 Dec;26(1):124-133. doi: 10.1080/13510002.2021.1959133.
Nitric oxide (NO) plays a vital role in neurological development. As an easily accessible and non-invasive fluid, saliva hasn't been evaluated for nitrite among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study aims to quantify saliva nitrite and explore its relation with serum NO.
Saliva sampling and pretreatment methods were optimized, followed by NO measurement via chemiluminescence for 126 ASD children and 129 normally developing children (ND).
In the ASD group, saliva nitrite was significantly higher than that in the ND, with concentrations of 4.97 ± 3.77 μM and 2.66 ± 2.07 μM ( < 0.0001), respectively. Positive correlation was observed between saliva NO and serum NO in ASD children, which didn't exist in the ND group. Male children in the ASD group had significantly higher NO than that in boys of the ND group, without significant difference between girls in both groups. Correlation was not found between saliva or serum NO and severity of these ASD children.
It is reported for the first time that saliva nitrite was positively correlated with serum nitrate in ASD children, with significantly higher NO only in autistic boys. Non-invasive saliva might serve as a predictor of health status of ASD children.
一氧化氮（NO）在神经发育中起着至关重要的作用。唾液作为一种易于获取且非侵入性的体液，尚未在自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童中评估其亚硝酸盐含量。本研究旨在定量唾液中亚硝酸盐，并探讨其与血清 NO 的关系。
优化唾液采样和预处理方法，然后通过化学发光法测量 126 名 ASD 儿童和 129 名正常发育儿童（ND）的唾液和血清中的 NO。
ASD 组的唾液亚硝酸盐明显高于 ND 组，浓度分别为 4.97±3.77 μM 和 2.66±2.07 μM（<0.0001）。ASD 儿童的唾液 NO 与血清 NO 呈正相关，而 ND 组则不存在这种相关性。ASD 组的男性儿童的 NO 明显高于 ND 组的男孩，而两组女孩之间没有差异。未发现唾液或血清 NO 与这些 ASD 儿童的严重程度之间存在相关性。
这是首次报道 ASD 儿童的唾液亚硝酸盐与血清硝酸盐呈正相关，且仅在自闭症男孩中 NO 明显升高。非侵入性的唾液可能可作为 ASD 儿童健康状况的预测指标。
