¹H NMR-Based Metabonomic Analysis of Human Saliva

Coupling of the multicomponent NMR analysis of biofluids with pattern recognition methodologies can reveal meaningful diagnostic and therapeutic information. Objectives: Here, we have focused on saliva and explored this technique's ability to predict the oral health status (OHS) of humans and probe the therapeutic efficacies (TEs) of oral health care products (OHCPs). Methods: A panel of 40 volunteers were placed on a standardised oral hygeine regimen (NaF-containing toothpaste [1]) for a 5-week period to establish baseline salivary metabolite concentrations. This panel was then divided into 2 x 20 volunteer intervention treatment legs: the first of these received dentifrice [2] (utilised during weeks 6-8), whilst the second was maintained on dentifrice [1] for the same period (participants were blinded with regard to product identities). The panel then returned to product [1] for weeks 9 and 10. 5 daily a.m. ‘wake-up' saliva specimens were collected during each week, and oral soft tissue examinations were performed during weeks 5 and 10. NMR spectra were acquired on a 400 MHz spectrometer, and multivariate analysis of NMR data was conducted by a supervised pattern recognition technique. Results: Multivariate analysis of data acquired revealed that the ¹H NMR profiles of saliva specimens provided a valuable means of predicting the OHS scores of participants (correlation between observed and predicted values, r = 0.8144): propionate, n-butyrate and trimethylamine concentrations were key determinants of OHS. Moreover, the technique could clearly distinguish between the TEs of the products tested, and also detect deviations from the study protocol. Conclusions: ¹H NMR-based metabonomic analysis of human saliva provides a powerful index of OHS and serves as a cost-effective and reliable means of evaluating the TEs of OHCPs in clinical trials. [1] and [2]: Crest Decay Prevention and Crest Pro-Health toothpastes respectively, The Procter and Gamble Company, USA.