Salivary cholesterol level in atherosclerotic and healthy subjects

Background: Hypercholesterolemia has been associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease. The high level of cholesterol in the blood will be secreted into saliva. Objective: To investigate the difference of salivary cholesterol levels in atherosclerotic and healthy subjects. Method: Saliva samples were collected from 10 subjects with atherosclerosis and 10 healthy subjects. Two hundred microliter saliva sample was added with 10 ml mixture of ethanol and ether. After 30 minutes incubation at room temperature, the mixtures were centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 3 minutes. Supernatants were then evaporated in the water bath in 70° C. The dry precipitates were dissolved using 5 ml of chloroform, added with acetic acid and 2 ml Libermann-Burchard reagent, incubated in the dark room for 15 minutes. The absorbance was measured spectrophotometrically at 525 nm wave length. Results: The means ± standard deviations of salivary cholesterol levels in atherosclerotic and healthy subjects were (9.33 ± 1.89 mg/dl) and (6.19 ± 1.89 mg/dl) respectively. After using Student's t-test, the salivary cholesterol level was observed significantly higher in atherosclerotic subjects compared to healthy subjects (p<0.01). Conclusion: Based on this study it was concluded that salivary cholesterol level could be used as an indicator of atherosclerosis.