Using Salivary Oxidative Stress Markers as Non-Invasive Technique in the Evaluation of Oxidative Stress Status

Background: Salivary oxidative stress represents the discrepancy between reactive oxygen species and antioxidant mechanisms, therefore is an important index of systemic oxidative status. Several salivary markers have been identified making it a noninvasive tool for assessing OS and, especially important in chronic diseases. Objectives: This research was conducted to evaluate the serum and salivary concentrations of OS markers in participants with or without CD as well as examine the correlation between their serum and salivary levels. Materials and Methods. Place and Duration of Study: Babylon Teaching Hospital, Iraq between March 2024 to February 2025. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study carried out on 240 subjects. The subjects were divided into two main subgroups: group 1 with chronic diseases (n = 94) and group 2 without additional chronic diseases (n = 146). Serum and saliva MDA, LDH, 8-OHdG, SOD, CAT, GPx were measured using the standard spectrophotometry/ELISA techniques. Results: The serum and salivary MDA (3.68 ± 0.74 µmol/L vs. 3.21 ± 0.69 µmol/L, p = 0.009), LDH (168.3 ± 32.4 U/L vs. 149.7 ± 30.6 U/L, p = 0:003) as well as the salivary level of the oxidative DNA damage biomarker (8-OHdG) were significantly different for subjects who had chronic diseases compared to those without ([5:04 ±1:15 ng/mL, n=297] [4:39±1:03 ng/mL] respectively; P Conclusion: The results show that the patients in the clinical studies are exposed to increased oxidative stress and reduced antioxidant protection. The major significant relationships found between serum and salivary markers in our study demonstrate, saliva can be considered a valid, non–invasive potential medium for evaluating systemic OS status.