The distribution of proteolytic and alkaline phosphatase activities in human saliva treated with sodium deoxycholate

Abstract

Sodium deoxycholate was used to release peptidase and alkaline phosphatase activities from saliva sediment. The degree of the release was determined at a variety of detergent concentrations and incubation periods. By use of 0.4% of this detergent 80% of the alkaline phosphatase found in the sediment was released. A twofold increase in peptidase in the soluble fraction (10,000 g supernatant) and a 10% increase in protein resulted in the same concentration of sodium deoxycholate. The distribution of the enzymes in saliva supernatant and the enzymes released from sediment were determined on the substrates gelatin, poly-L-lysine HBr, haemoglobin, a-N-benzoyl-L-arginine ethyl ester-HCl, p-tosyl-L-arginine methyl ester-HCl, L-lysine-p-nitroanilide HBr and p-nitrophenyl phosphate. The study indicates that the peptidase(s) soluble in human saliva without detergent are derived from saliva sediment.