title: Salivary analysis and antioxidants in cleft lip and palate children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the sialometry, sialochemistry and antioxidants in cleft patients prior to alveolar closure procedures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Saliva was collected from 21 children with unilateral and bilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP and BCLP) with overt oronasal alveolar communication and with recurrent licking of fluids and soft diet complaints (the study group) and in 22 normal individuals (the control group). Salivary flow rate was measured, and calcium (Ca), phosphate (P), magnesium (Mg), total protein, albumin, amylase, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and secretory IgA were analysed. Salivary total antioxidant status (TAS), peroxidase activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, uric acid (UA), was also determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The sialometry and sialochemistry analyses did not reveal significant difference between the two groups. Salivary median uric acid concentration was 6-fold lower in the cleft group (p<0.05). The median total antioxidant status (TAS) of the cleft group however, was significantly higher by 58% (p<0.005) than that of the control group. Median SOD activity was also higher in the cleft group, by 42%, though these differences did not reach statistical significance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that the oral biology system of cleft patients in their prealveolar closure stage does not differ significantly from normal controls. Low UA found in the saliva of cleft patients may suggest that some genetic alteration of the UA transport occurs simultaneously when cleft lip and palate occur. TAS reduction may also reveal an increased oxidative stress burden in the oral cavities of cleft children which has never been shown before.
authors.affiliation: Craniofacial Center, Rambam Medical Center and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Dror
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Aizenbud
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Peri-Front
authors.forename: Rafael M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Nagler
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000539:Alveolar Process / Q000601:surgery*; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002971:Cleft Lip; D002972:Cleft Palate; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007071:Immunoglobulin A, Secretory / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000032:analysis; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D007071:Immunoglobulin A, Secretory; D014527:Uric Acid; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase