Potential of Human Saliva for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance-Based Metabolomics and for Health-Related Biomarker Identification

In the present study, the ability of (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for metabolic profiling of human saliva samples was investigated. High-resolution (1)H NMR spectra were obtained, and signals were assigned to various metabolites mainly representing small organic acids and amino acids. In addition, the use of human saliva for metabolomic studies was evaluated, and multivariate data analysis revealed that the 92 morning and night samples from 46 subjects could be discriminated with a predictability of 85%. The diurnal effect on the salivary metabolite profile were ascribed to changes in intensities of several metabolites including trimethylamine oxide (TMAO), choline, propionate, alanine, methanol, and N-acetyl groups. No effects of gender and body mass index (BMI) on the salivary metabolite profile were detected. The relationships between the salivary metabolome and glycated hemoglobin, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were investigated; however, no significant correlations could be established.