Inhibition of tissue plasminogen activators and urokinase by human saliva.

The fibrinolytic activity found in body fluids is mediated through the generation of plasmin from plasminogen by plasminogen activator. Mixed fresh human saliva was found to have plasminogen activator inhibitory activity that has not yet been characterized. In the present study, mixed fresh human saliva was found to contain an inhibitor for tissue plasminogen activator and for urokinase. The plasminogen activator inhibitory activity was mainly found in the mixed fresh human saliva cellular pellet containing buccal epithelial cells and not in the supernatant salivary fluid. Saliva collected by Stenson's duct cannulation does not have any PA-inhibitor activity, although saliva collected from submandibular glands contains small amounts of such activity. The salivary plasminogen activator inhibitor is unstable, and its activity is lost during storage.

Oral complications in bone marrow transplantation patients: recent advances.

This paper presents some of the oral aspects encountered in bone marrow transplant (BMT) patients, as reflected in recent research conducted in the Department of Oral Medicine. Oral infections caused by Enterobacteriaceae were found to be responsible for a large proportion of positive cultures, during different stages of the transplantation process. Mucositis was constantly detected concomitant with the infections. It correlated with granulocytopenia and fever. The mucositis improved together with the immune system reconstitution. Immunoglobulins in saliva of BMT patients showed a drastic reduction following the patients' conditioning protocol and a return to normal levels soon after the transplantation. IgA, IgM and IgG were studied. Saliva was also shown to play an important role in the fibrinolytic system, through its plasminogen activator inhibitory contents. It seems that the active molecules are contained in the oral epithelial cells.