A critical evaluation of salivary testosterone as a method for the assessment of serum testosterone |
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Affiliation: | 1. Neuropsychopharmacology and Biopsychology Unit, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria;2. Department of Genetic Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany;3. Department of Economics, Royal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom;4. Department of Reproductive Medicine, University of Münster, Germany;5. Department of Psychology, Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany;6. Freiburg Brain Imaging Center, University Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Germany;1. Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, United States of America;2. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States of America |
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Abstract: | Although salivary testosterone (T) is often used in clinical studies accuracy is mostly questionable. State of the art data for men is sparse and for women absent. Our objective was to perform a critical evaluation of salivary T (Sal-T) as a method for indirect assessment of serum T using state of the art methods. Saliva was collected via ‘Salivette’ and ‘passive drooling’ methods. Sal-T and free T in serum after equilibrium dialysis were measured by LC-MS/MSResultsEvaluation of Sal-T results versus free T by equilibrium dialysis (ED-T) for men gave: ‘Salivette’ Sal-T = 0.05 + 0.88x ED-T, r = 0.43; ‘passive drooling’ Sal-T = 0.17 + 0.91x ED-T r = 0.71. In women, correlation was comparable but values are higher than free T: ‘passive drooling’ Sal-T = 0.12 + 2.32x ED-T, r = 0.70. The higher than expected T values in saliva, appear to be explained by T binding to salivary proteins. Iso-electric focusing of saliva proteins, followed by fractionation and LC–MS/MS assay of T showed marked testosterone peaks at pH 5.3 and 8.4, providing evidence for T binding in saliva to proteins such as albumin and proline rich protein (PRP).ConclusionsPassive drooling is the collection method of choice for testosterone in saliva. Sal-T is not directly comparable to serum free T due to T binding to saliva proteins, which substantially affects the low Sal-T in women but not the higher Sal-T in healthy adult men. |
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Keywords: | Saliva Testosterone LC–MS/MS Equilibrium dialysis |
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