Research Projects

The phases of menstrual cycle was determined through salivary hormone analysis, ultrasonography and fern pattern analysis. The physico-chemical properties and ultrastructure of saliva were measured during menstrual cycle. This is the first ever report showing the ultra structure difference of saliva during menstrual cycle. It would be possible to develop a biosensor for ovulation detection in human. Additionally, antibacterial activity of ovulation phase saliva showed higher sensitivity in tested microorganisms. The protein expression pattern was identified in saliva during different phases of menstrual cycle. The functional annotation of identified salivary proteins has represented as extracellular proteins which are having regulatory functions. Among the protein list Cystatin-S was found to be a promising one, hence, Cystatin-S was validated by adopting western blot analysis and it could be considered as the marker protein for ovulation phase. The differential protein expression was observed by 2D gel electrophoresis. It is found that the salivary proteins were focused between 4-7 pH range and 97-14 kDa. The unique and differentially expressed proteins spots are identified and confirmed during ovulation phase. Interestingly, Cystatin-S, Prolactin-inducible protein, Cystatin-A, Cystatin-SN, BPI foldcontaining family A member 2, Alpha-tubulin N-acetyltransferase 1, Carbonic anhydrase 6 were highly expressed during ovulation phase. Further studies are required to identify a promising protein biomarker in human saliva.