Abstract
BackgroundDogs’ saliva is a complex mixture of inorganic and organic constituents, rich in proteins. Therefore, knowing the saliva composition of these animals is extremely important to identify the presence of proteins that may be involved in physiological and pathological mechanisms of their oral cavity. The present study aimed to characterize the proteomic profile of saliva from dogs with and without dental calculus.ResultsSaliva samples were collected from 20 dogs. Before the collection, a visual clinical examination was performed and 8 subjects (40%) did not present any signs of dental calculus, while 12 (60%) presented dental calculus. After saliva collection, the samples were submitted to protein quantification (mBCA), and then they were prepared for analysis by nLC-ESI-MS/MS. A total of 658 unique proteins were identified, of which 225 were specific to dogs without dental calculus, 300 were specific to dogs with dental calculus, and 133 were common to all subjects. These proteins presented functions including transportation, immune response, structural, enzymatic regulation, signal transduction, transcription, metabolism, and some proteins perform functions as yet unknown. Several salivary proteins in dogs with dental calculus differed from those found in the group without dental calculus. Among the abundant proteins detected in periodontal affected cases, can be highlighting calcium-sensing receptor and transforming growth factor beta. Enrichment analysis reveled the presence of Rho GTPases signaling pathway.ConclusionsThis research identified salivary proteins, that should be further investigated as potencial biomarkers of chronic periodontits with dental calculus formation in dogs.
Highlights
Dogs’ saliva is a complex mixture of inorganic and organic constituents, rich in proteins
The formation of dental calculus is typical since the first year of life and it appears as granular, yellow– brown masses on the buccal surfaces of molar teeth of the upper jaw near salivary duct orifices [7, 13]
Dental calculus consists in a mixture of calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate, presenting a rough surface that increases the occurrence of periodontal disease [8], due to the calcification of more dental biofilm, bringing it closer to the soft tissues [14]
Summary
Dogs’ saliva is a complex mixture of inorganic and organic constituents, rich in proteins. The present study aimed to characterize the proteomic profile of saliva from dogs with and without dental calculus. Dental calculus consists in a mixture of calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate, presenting a rough surface that increases the occurrence of periodontal disease [8], due to the calcification of more dental biofilm, bringing it closer to the soft tissues [14]. There is a link in dogs between the calculus presence with the increasing rate of periodontal diseases, which in some cases may lead to the animal starvation as a result of feeding difficulties [13, 15, 16]. In dogs, dental calculus is considered one of the main conditions involved in the development of periodontal disease resulting in teeth loss. Studies report prevalence of periodontal disease varying from 80 to 85% [10, 17,18,19]
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