Abstract
Introduction: Pregnancy demands various physiological changes to be adapted by the body for growing fetus. Stress of pregnancy gives rise to altered hormonal release from hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) and sympatho-adrenal-medullary (SAM) axis. Present study aimed to estimate salivary amylase activity in pregnant and non- pregnant females. Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional study we have selected 65 pregnant females and compared with 22 non- pregnant females. Pregnant females were grouped into three according to trimesters. Non stimulated saliva sample was collected from study participants. Salivary amylase activity was measured by coupled enzymatic assay. Results: Significant increase in salivary amylase in pregnant as compared to non-pregnant females was observed (p=0.019). There was significant difference in salivary amylase between groups of pregnant females (pp=0.08). Conclusion: Increased salivary amylase in pregnancy can be due to increased physical and physiological stress in pregnancy. Salivary amylase was studied as a marker of stress. Stress leads to increased sympathetic activity which in turn leads to increased salivary amylase. Saliva collection is non- invasive technique, easy to perform, less skillful and can be done repeatedly so it can be easily used for monitoring increased sympathetic activity. Keywords: Salivary alpha amylase, Pregnancy, Non- pregnant, Stress, Sympathetic nervous system.
Highlights
Pregnancy demands various physiological changes to be adapted by the body for growing fetus
We aimed to study Salivary alpha amylase (sAA) activity in different trimester of pregnancy to observe trend of sAA in pregnancy
We observed statistically significant increase in sAA activity in pregnant women as compared to nonpregnant
Summary
Pregnancy demands various physiological changes to be adapted by the body for growing fetus. Alpha amylase is most abundant protein present in saliva.[3] It is secreted from acinar cells of salivary glands by activation of beta 1 adrenoreceptors.[4] It is calcium containing metalloenzyme It hydrolyzes starch by breaking alpha 1-4 glycosidic linkage, into maltose, maltrotriose and larger oligosaccharides.[5] Salivary alpha amylase (sAA) production is independent of saliva flow rate.[6] Parotid, submandibular and sublingual are major salivary glands which are innervated by sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves. Human and animal studies showed marked elevation of sAA activity due to different physical and psychological stress.[2] As pregnancy is a stressful condition in female’s life, present study aimed to observe sAA activity in pregnant females and compare with non-pregnant. We aimed to study sAA activity in different trimester of pregnancy to observe trend of sAA in pregnancy
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