Delmopinol hydrochloride- and chlorhexidine digluconate-induced precipitation of salivary proteins of different molecular weights

Abstract

Gel electrophoresis was used to analyze precipitates formed of delmopinol hydrochloride or chlorhexidine digluconate mixed with unstimulated whole saliva samples from five test subjects. Final concentrations of delmopinol (6.4 mM) or chlorhexidine (6.4 mM, 2.2 mM) mixed with whole saliva were incubated for 10 min at 37°C. The precipitates were pelleted by centrifugation and resuspended to a similar protein density. The protein patterns in the pellets were analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, using 12.5% gels. The amount of pellet protein was determined by densitometry in four molecular weight ranges (10-21.5, 21.5-26, 26-45, and 45-300). The results indicated that high molecular weight (45-300) proteins dominated in the precipitate and that 2.2 mM chlorhexidine precipitated more salivary protein than 6.4 mM. At equimolar concentration (6.4 mM) delmopinol precipitated more high molecular weight salivary proteins than chlorhexidine.