Biochemical Estimation of Salivary Antioxidants and Electrolytes-A Novel, Non-Invasive Tool to Detect Ovulatory Phases

Background: The menstrual cycle is governed by estrogen and progesterone, which show variation during the menstrual cycle, affecting the physiology of the whole body, including the oral cavity. However, few studies are available to show the normal changes in salivary composition during the menstrual cycle. So this study assessed the changes in the salivary composition of calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium and inorganic phosphate during the different phases of the menstrual cycle. Additionally, salivary H2O2 scavenging activity, total antioxidant properties and changes in pH during preovulatory, ovulatory and post-ovulatory phases were estimated biochemically. Methodology: Unstimulated 5ml of saliva was collected from 50 female patients during pre-ovulatory, ovulatory and post-ovulatory phases using the spitting method. The salivary pH was estimated using a digital pH meter. Salivary electrolyte testing was done using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Total antioxidant property and hydrogen peroxide scavenging property were determined using a UV spectrophotometer. For continuous variables, ANOVA with Repeated Measures was used and if significant Bonferroni post hoc test was done to determine which menstrual phase significantly differed from the other. For categorical variables, the Friedman test was used. After the existence of variance among the phases was confirmed in the Friedman test, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was applied to understand how significantly each phase differed from the other. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Results: It was found that during the ovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle, all the salivary tested components increased significantly when compared to pre and post-ovulatory phases. Conclusion: Saliva can be used as a supplementary tool to detect the ovulatory phase.