Sodium concentration in unstimulated parotid saliva and on oral mucosa in normal subjects and in patients with cystic fibrosis

Abstract

I T WAS S H O W N by several investigators 1-a that the sodium concentration is consistently higher in mixed saliva from fibrocystic patients as compared with that from normal control subjects. Recently Saggers and associates 4 found a significant difference in the sodium concentration of unstimulated parotid saliva by measuring the sodium activity with a sodium-sensitive glass electrode positioned near the opening of Stensen's duct. The increase in the sodium concentration in fibrocystic patients as compared with normal control subjects was felt by Saggers and associates to be sufficiently large to be used as a diagnostic method. However, in a current study by us on submaxilla W and parofid saliva in normal subjects and in patients with cystic fibrosis, no sig-