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Dialysis of saliva improves accuracy of saliva lithium determinations
Rif S El-Mallakh1, Mark Linder, Roland Valdes
1Mood Disorders Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, School of Public Health and Information Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA. rselma01@athena.louisville.edu
Background:
Saliva lithium (Li) determinations have been explored as a potential alternative to plasma levels. Unfortunately, this method has been shown to be unreliable. Saliva has two major components: the aqueous and the mucopolysaccharide portions.
Methods:
Since Li is likely to distribute only in the aqueous fraction, we dialyzed the saliva through a 3000 Da filter to isolate the aqueous component and determine the Li level in it.
Results:
Lithium levels in the dialyzed saliva agreed more closely with plasma levels (Spearman's rho = 0.901, p < 0.001) than did whole saliva (Spearman's rho = 0.775, p = 0.012).
Conclusion:
Dialysis of saliva may contribute to more accurate saliva Li levels.
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