Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the protein contents and salivary protein pattern between human and dog saliva with the hope of finding some proteins which may be of potential use in the field of medicine and dentistry.
Methods: Dog saliva was allowed to drip from the mouth into a beaker or using a syringe to collect saliva at the buccal area. Human saliva was collected by Navazesh’s method. Proteins in pooled whole saliva samples were profiled using shotgun proteomics based on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis as a prefractionation. Two dimensional electrophoresis was also performed. The protein spots were analysed by capillary reversed-phase liquid chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry and Mascot sequence searching. Functional analysis of dog saliva was performed using human cell culture.
Results: The results demonstrated that the protein pattern of dog saliva differs from that of human saliva. Amylase cannot be found in dog saliva. Moreover dog saliva contains many low molecular weight proteins and is not toxic to human cells.
Conclusions: The protein composition of dog saliva differs from that of human saliva. It is not toxic to human cells and may have of potential use for wound healing.
This project is supported by the Office of the Higher Education Commission and Mahidol University under the National Research Universities Initiative