Preliminary results of nuclear magnetic resonance studies of healthy human saliva.

Relaxation times T1 and T2 of water protons for stimulated and unstimulated parotid and submandibular saliva from healthy patients were measured in the conventional way using the Bruker PC 20 Minispec. Some measurements of dispersion were also carried out. An interpretation of the average values for T1 and T2 observed in the 20 MHz range is proposed for these types of saliva in relation to biochemical composition (total proteins, amylase activity, sialic acids and hexosamins) and viscosity. For parotid saliva T2(-1)-T1(-1) correlates significantly with amylase activity. In the submandibular saliva T2(-1)-T1(-1) correlates significantly with both mucins and alpha-amylase activity.