Daily Saliva and Vaginal Mucins Co-vary in Protein-to-carbohydrate Ratio - Daily Saliva and Vaginal Mucins Co-vary in Protein-to-carbohydrate Ratio - Open Access Pub

The currently reported study employed the curiously named (but simple) quantitative, nondestructive technique of Multiple Attenuated Internal Reflection InfraRed (MAIR-IR) spectroscopy to assess daily variations of both saliva and vaginal secretions from a panel of consenting volunteers. The project goal was to determine whether the protein-to-carbohydrate (starch) ratio, determined by MAIR-IR analysis of salivary and vaginal secretions is an objective measure of the co-variation of mucinous secretions with daily menstrual cycle. Overall, the spectral data were found to provide valid signatures of vaginal mucus chemical changes that also correlated with cyclic periods of presumed fertility, such periods exhibiting repeat times of 14-16 days and 27-29 days in the thoroughly analyzed records. At mid-cycle, associated with ovulatory events, the protein-to-carbohydrate ratio of vaginal mucin maximizes. Higher carbohydrate ratios are associated with stiffer cervical mucus plug formation, which usually prevents infection, spontaneous abortion, and pre-term birth, but may also be responsible for infertility. Mucin relaxation compounds, such as the FDA-approved oral rinse, delmopinol, may induce fertility in such cases. DOI10.14302/issn.2576-2818.jfb-18-2298 Self-reports of menstrual cycle symptoms have long been criticized, calling for more objective measures that could correlate better with physiological events.1 It is obviously important that, if cervical mucus specimens are to be the criteria objectively evaluated, there must be a proof of their stability while introduced to the analytical methods.2 In the mucin glycoproteins, poly-anionic groups (mainly sialic acid) are carried on oligosaccharides (short starch segments) of about 9-10 monosaccharide lengths, but the chemical and serological differences in oligosaccharide structure were not previously reported to have any biological function.2 This generally pessimistic view is challenged by a plethora of prior studies of salivary mucins, very similar to cervical glycoproteins, that do illustrate structural and functional changes (some of which co-vary with menstrual cycle days) with modified compositions.3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13Although carefully controlled saliva sampling regimens do demonstrate this cyclic variation, normal oral activities, eating, and drinking can obscure the same correlation that may be demonstrated more reliably by vaginal mucin smears. Such cyclical changes may serve as indicators of both shorter and longer term fluctuations in states of human fertility, health, and