Salivary Hormones and Quality of Life in Female Postmenopausal Burning Mouth Patients—A Pilot Case-Control Study

The objective of our study was to investigate salivary levels of estradiol, progesterone and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and quality of life, in female postmenopausal women with burning mouth syndrome. The study included new patients diagnosed with burning mouth syndrome and excluded local and systemic causes. Unstimulated saliva samples were taken in the morning from 9 AM and 11 AM and immediately frozen for hormone analysis. The patients filled out a self-perceived quality of life questionnaire Oral Health Impact Profile-14 and determined the intensity of mucosal symptoms according to the visual-analog scale grading 0 to 10. A total of 40 patients were included. The study group had significantly lower levels of salivary estradiol. No difference was observed in levels of progesterone and DHEA between the groups. The levels of salivary hormones did not exhibit a significant correlation according to the Spearman correlation test with a self-perceived quality of life questionnaire (OHIP-14) in the study group or in the control group. Further research on a larger number of patients is needed to verify these results. This information might help to enable more precise and efficient treatment.

Quantification of 10 steroid hormones in human saliva from Chinese adult volunteers

Objective This study was performed to investigate the effects of age and sex on 10 salivary steroid hormones and analyze the correlations between salivary and plasma hormones. Methods The concentrations of 10 salivary steroid hormones in 1090 Chinese adult volunteers were examined using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry, and a related investigation was performed on the concentrations of salivary hormones in this population. Results The concentrations of androstenedione (A4), 17α-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP), aldosterone (ALD), cortisone (COR), corticosterone (CORT), cortisol (F), progesterone (P), and testosterone were significantly different between men and women (Student’s t-test). Differences in 17-OHP and ALD concentrations were highly significant between women in the follicular and luteal phases of their menstrual cycle (Student’s t-test). Five salivary steroid hormones (17-OHP, A4, CORT, COR, and F) significantly decreased with increasing age (Kruskal–Wallis test). A high linear correlation between salivary and plasma 17-OHP, P, A4, and F were observed with obvious sex-related differences (Pearson’s correlation, r > 0.7). Conclusions Our results provide important knowledge regarding the descriptive characteristics of salivary hormones in relation to age and sex and their correlations with plasma hormones.

Changes in Salivary Hormones Concentration during the Preparation and Competition Period in Olympic Weightlifters

SummaryEndogenous hormones are essential for physiological reactions and influence the adaptation to weightlifting training by modulating anabolic and catabolic processes. It seems that testosterone and cortisol are playing a key role in anabolic and catabolic processes in resistance training. Eight elite Czech and Slovak weightlifters volunteered in present study. The testosterone and cortisol were measured in 4 testing sessions over 18 weeks during preparation and competition period. The training protocol consisted of three specific weightlifting exercises. The saliva samples were collected in 4 testing sessions, pre and 5 min, 15 min and 30 min after protocol, respectively. The basal level of salivary testosterone and cortisol remains unchanged during preparation and competition period. Also, acute testosterone response was not observed over the monitored period. However, acute decrease of cortisol were found between pre intervention and post 5 (p ≤ 0.01), 15 (p ≤ 0.01), and 30 min (p ≤ 0.05) during preparation periods. While in competition period was found significant decrease (p ≤ 0.05) only 5 min after testing protocol. The testosterone/cortisol ratio significantly increased during preparation periods (p ≤ 0.01), but not in competition period. Results indicated that the routine assessment of testosterone and cortisol may provide an effective way to monitor acute and chronic adaptive response to weightlifting training. Our results suggest that cortisol, not the testosterone is an important component of adaptation during elite weightlifting training.