The origin and significance of salivary phosphatase

Abstract

Human saliva had a variable phosphatase activity. This phosphatase had a broad optimum between pH 5 and 6 and was capable of hydrolysing the organic P of saliva. It was located not only in the epithelial scales but also in various mouth micro-organisms. These relations were based on the following observations:[long dash](1) In cats, the submaxillary duct saliva had practically no activity, whereas mouth saliva collected at the same time had a normal amount. (2) The phosphatase activity of human saliva increased markedly on incubating in nutrient broth at 37[degree]C. (3) Several common air-borne spp. of actinomyces likely to be present in saliva and also one freshly isolated from the mouth, proved to have marked phosphatase activity. These phos-phatases incubated with Ca glycerophosphate led to the deposition of Ca phosphate. These observations served to correlate the theories of formation of dental calculus (tartar).