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Salivary testosterone determination in studies of child health and development
D A Granger1, E B Schwartz, A Booth
1Departments of Biobehavioral Health and Sociology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802-6509, USA. dag11@psu.edu
Insights
Researchers developed a new, sensitive method to measure testosterone in children's saliva. This reliable assay is crucial for understanding child development and hormone-behavior relationships.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric endocrinology
- Developmental psychology
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Salivary hormone measurement offers potential for developmental studies.
- Existing testosterone assays for children's saliva are limited.
- Testosterone plays a role in child health and development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a reliable, efficient, and sensitive assay for measuring testosterone in children's saliva.
- To adapt a commercially available serum testosterone kit for salivary analysis.
- To facilitate research on testosterone-behavior relationships in children.
Main Methods:
- Adapted a commercial serum testosterone kit for saliva samples.
- Validated the assay's sensitivity, reproducibility, accuracy, and linearity.
- Analyzed salivary testosterone levels in a cohort of boys and girls aged 8-12.
Main Results:
- Achieved a low detection limit (0.8 pg/mL) and high reproducibility.
- Demonstrated excellent accuracy (99.20%) and linearity (92.80%).
- Showed strong linear relationships between serum and saliva testosterone levels.
Conclusions:
- The developed assay is reliable, efficient, and highly sensitive for salivary testosterone measurement in children.
- This method requires no sample separation or extraction, simplifying the process.
- The assay can significantly aid researchers investigating child development and testosterone-behavior links.
Abstract:
Measurement of hormones in children's saliva has excited interest because of numerous potential applications in developmental studies. Although assays of children's saliva for some hormones (e.g., cortisol) are widely available and used, the availability and use of assays of children's saliva testosterone is restricted. By adapting a commercially available serum testosterone kit, our laboratory has developed a reliable, efficient, and highly sensitive procedure for measuring testosterone in children's saliva that does not require separation or extraction. The minimum detection limit was 0.8 pg/mL. Intraassay coefficients of variation (CV) were between 3.66 and 6. 78% at concentrations 9.25 to 86.41 pg/mL, and interassay CVs were between 5.70 and 6.61% at concentrations of 7.3 to 118.51 pg/mL. The standard curve was highly reproducible (M slope = -0.70 and Mr = 0. 99). Method accuracy, determined by spike recovery, and linearity, determined by serial dilution, were 99.20 and 92.80%, respectively. Values from matched serum and saliva samples showed strong linear relationships. The assay captured near 99.09% of the range of individual differences in boys' (N = 90) and girls' (N = 85), ages 8-12, am and pm salivary testosterone levels. This assay can be easily applied to the investigation of testosterone-behavior relations in the context of studies on child health and development. It may help many child development researchers improve or expand their research activities.