ORIGINAL ARTICLES Total Salivary Antioxidant and Serum Antioxidant Levels in Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis: A Case-Control Study

West Afr J Med . 2023 May 27;40(5):504-508.

Abstract

Abstract  in English, French

Background: Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS) is an inflammatory lesion of the oral mucous lining, accounting for 5 to 25% of the chronic oral lesions. Studies have suggested that RAS patients have increased oxidative stress (OS) and impaired antioxidant capacity, and non-invasive screening using saliva assessment of oxidative stress and antioxidant capacity may be beneficial in RAS.

Objectives: This study determined total salivary antioxidant concentration and compared it to the total serum antioxidant levels in patients with RAS and controls.

Methods: This was a case-control study of subjects with RAS and without RAS. Unstimulated mid-morning saliva was collected using the spitting method, and venous blood was collected into a plastic vacutainer. Saliva and blood samples were assayed for total oxidative stress (TOS), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and glutathione.

Results: A total of 46 subjects, 23 with RAS and 23 healthy controls, participated in the study. Twenty-five (54.35%) were males, and 21(45.65) were females aged 17 to 73 years. We identified an increase in salivary and serum TOS (10.06 ± 7.49, 8.26 ± 2.18/ 15.00 ± 8.92, 9.36 ± 3.55µmol/L) and OSI while the TAC (16.85 ± 1.97, 17.07 ± 2.36/17.07 ± 2.36, 2.97 ± 0.29mM/L) and significantly GSH (0.02 ± 0.02, 0.10 ± 0.02/0.10 ± 0.02/0.19 ± 0.11 µmol/ml) were decreased in serum and saliva of the RAS group compared to controls respectively. In addition, there were positive correlations between salivary and serum levels of FRAP r=0.588, p= 0.003 and glutathione r=0.703, p<0.001 in RAS subjects and controls.

Conclusion: Oxidative stress is associated with RAS, and saliva can be used as a biological marker for glutathione and FRAP.

Keywords: Antioxidant; Oxidative Stress; Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis; Saliva.

A M Oluwadaisi ¹, F J Owotade ¹, E O Oyetola ¹, I J Olawuni ², A O Aborisade ³