Vrecko K, Staedtler P, Mischak I, Maresch L, Reibnegger G
Institute of Medical Chemistry, Karl-Franzens-University of Graz, Austria.
Clin Chim Acta. 1997 Dec 10;268(1-2):31-40. doi: 10.1016/s0009-8981(97)00154-x.
Neopterin concentrations in diverse body fluids provide a well established indication for activation of the cell-mediated immune system. Neopterin concentrations were measured in the saliva and urine of 29 patients with varying numbers of teeth affected by periodontitis. While neopterin concentrations in urine increased slightly but not significantly in parallel with increasing numbers of affected teeth, salivary neopterin levels showed a significant and positive correlation with number of diseased teeth (linear correlation coefficient = 0.48, P = 0.012). Additionally, when the patients were grouped according to the median number of affected teeth (20), salivary specimens of subjects with one to 20 affected teeth showed significantly lower neopterin concentrations than specimens from those with more than 20 diseased teeth (P = 0.0045, Student's t-test). In contrast, urinary neopterin concentrations did not differ significantly among these two groups. This pilot study suggests that salivary neopterin concentrations may reflect local immune activation even in situations where no systemic activation can be detected.
多种体液中的新蝶呤浓度是细胞介导免疫系统激活的一个公认指标。对29例患有不同数量患牙的牙周炎患者的唾液和尿液中的新蝶呤浓度进行了测量。虽然尿液中的新蝶呤浓度随着患牙数量的增加而略有升高，但无显著变化，而唾液中的新蝶呤水平与患牙数量呈显著正相关（线性相关系数 = 0.48，P = 0.012）。此外，当根据患牙的中位数（20颗）对患者进行分组时，患牙数为1至20颗的受试者的唾液样本中新蝶呤浓度显著低于患牙数超过20颗的受试者的样本（P = 0.0045，学生t检验）。相比之下，这两组患者尿液中的新蝶呤浓度没有显著差异。这项初步研究表明，即使在未检测到全身激活的情况下，唾液中的新蝶呤浓度也可能反映局部免疫激活。
