Amino Acid profile in oral submucous fibrosis: a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) study

Collagen is a significant structural protein, the integrity of which is essential to be maintained for proper homeostasis. Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF), being a collagen metabolic disorder, may be subject to changes in amino acid profiling.

The present study was attempted to evaluate the amino acid profile to assess its feasibility as a biological marker in OSMF.

The study group comprised of 13 patents with OSMF and the normal group comprised of 13 normal patients without associated habits or systemic disorders. Venous blood was collected from the antecubital vein, plasma was separated and the plasma was then subjected to high profile liquid chromatographic analysis.

The assay levels of threonine, alanine and tyrosine did not yield any significant results. The decreased assay levels of valine, Isoleucine and the increased assay level of methionine and glycine observed in group II yielded significant results in correlation with the control group. The decreased assay level seen in phenylalanine in group II and III in correlation with group IV is statistically significant.

A few amino acids have been identified which can be used as biological markers for the severity of the disease such as valine, methionine and phenyl alanine. Large scale studies are required to elucidate the potential of these biological markers.