[Devices for saliva collection from the major salivary glands. Results in normal subjects]

Collection of saliva produced by the major salivary glands may be accomplished either by cannulation of the glandular ducts or by the application of specific collecting devices to the emergence area of the glandular ducts. Those procedures are complex, slow, invasive and require skilled personnel.

To report the design and application of a device to collect parotid saliva (snail collector) and another device to collect saliva from the submandibular/sublingual complex.

The saliva collection devices were tested in 40 healthy volunteers (20 male) aged 18 to 22 years old. Saliva was collected using conventional conditions, during 5 to 15 min.

An average of 1 to 1.5 ml of saliva was collected in the 10-15 min period from both parotid and submandibular/sublingual glands. Flow rates from parotid glands were 80 microliters/min and 180 microliters/min from submandibular/sublingual glands. Parotid saliva had a protein and organic material concentration twice as high than saliva from submandibular/sublingual glands. The presence of human alpha-amylase duplet (Mr 55 kD and 58 kD) predominated in parotid saliva, whereas saliva from submandibular/sublingual glands had other molecular markers such as the lysozyme duplet (Mr 18.5 kD and 17 kD).

The tested devices were easily applicable, comfortable and allowed the collection of both parotid saliva and submandibular/sublingual saliva from various subjects at once, under the supervision of a single professional.