title: Determination of salivary cortisol by ELISA and its application to the assessment of the circadian rhythm in children.
abstract: In 35 young children, circadian rhythms of salivary cortisol levels were determined by ELISA using a commercially available kit with a minor modification. The concentration of labeled cortisol in the serum kit was reduced in order to measure cortisol in 10 microliters of saliva. Intra- and interassay coefficients of variation for salivary cortisol ranged from 2.4 to 9.9 and 3.2 to 8.9%, respectively. Recovery of salivary cortisol was 82.9-107.0%. There was a highly significant correlation between cortisol levels in saliva and serum in adults (r = 0.857). Salivary cortisol levels ranged from 0.01 to 2.252 micrograms/100 ml and showed significant diurnal variation in the children. Our ELISA is a precise, simple, noninvasive and useful method for clinical practice and study in infants and children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Maternal and Child Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohkawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Segawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Higurashi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D008297:Male; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012016:Reference Values; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D006854:Hydrocortisone