Determination of adenine nucleotides and their metabolites in human saliva.

The profile and normal concentrations of nucleotide metabolites in human saliva and reproducibility of these determinations were analyzed. Samples of human saliva collected from healthy individuals at weekly intervals, were deproteinized and analysed for the content of adenine nucleotides and their metabolites by reversed-phase HPLC. Initial ATP, hypoxanthine and uric acid concentrations were 0.52 +/- 0.15 microM, 1.91 +/- 0.37 microM and 184 +/- 22 microM respectively. A substantial individual variation persisted within 3 weeks of sampling excepted hypoxanthine which showed some unrelated variations. Determination of nucleotides and their catabolites in saliva due to its simplicity and reproducibility, may be of clinical value in diagnosis of local or systemic disorders.