title: Dithiothreitol treatment permits measurement of melatonin in otherwise unusable saliva samples.
abstract: Melatonin research has primarily utilized blood as the source of samples, but there is now increasing interest in measuring levels of the hormone found in saliva. One impediment to this approach is that several melatonin assays involve a column-extraction step that can prove very time-consuming or even impossible when salivary samples are excessively viscous. We have treated 67 samples with dithiothreitol to enhance their passage through the column. Following this treatment, all samples passed freely through the columns. The minimum and maximum values measured were 0.7 - 50.0 pg/ml for the untreated controls and 1.0 - 51.9 pg/ml for the treated samples. The means (+/-SEM) for these groups were 9.5 +/- 1.6 and 9.9 +/- 1.7, respectively, and were not significantly different from one another as assessed by Student's t-test (P = 0.08). In summary, we have found that this technique permits us to obtain values on samples which would otherwise be unusable and that such treatment does not alter the melatonin values yielded by RIA analysis.
authors.affiliation: General Clinical Research Center, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland 97201-3098, USA.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Clemons
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Geffen
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Otto
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Pratt
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Harker
mesh_terms: D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D004229:Dithiothreitol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D008550:Melatonin / Q000032:analysis* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000187:drug effects; D013439:Sulfhydryl Reagents / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D013439:Sulfhydryl Reagents; D008550:Melatonin; D004229:Dithiothreitol