Salivary analyses for biologic monitoring: possibility and perspectives

The use of saliva for biological monitoring offers several interesting advantages, in terms of cost, non-invasive sampling, no risk of infection and little likelihood of the sample being polluted. Tests for measuring chemicals in saliva are available for many endogenous analytes, and xenobiotics. Saliva tests for inorganic compounds have so far not given satisfactory results, even using highly sensitive methods such as ICP/MS or atomic absorption. However, testing saliva for pesticides holds promise: the close correlation between the plasma compartment and saliva for some of these compounds has led to proposals for assaying diazinon, trichloropyridinol, atrazine, and paraquat, for instance, in saliva as biological indicators of occupational exposure. In industrial settings too significant correlations have been found between blood, urine and saliva assays. Investigations of exposure, for example, to plastifiers (phthalates), methanol, isopropanol and m-xylene have given comparable, equally reliable data, although highly sensitive instrumentation is needed. This approach appears to offer a wide range of applications, and certainly merits further study.