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Objectives: The levels of trace elements in mixed saliva were not well-defined. This study was performed to determine Al and Fe concentrations in mixed saliva of children and to investigate the relationship between these levels and dental caries., Methods: Among 562 collected mixed saliva specimens, 514 and 548 samples for analyses of Al and Fe levels were obtained, respectively. The Al and Fe concentrations were determined using flameless atomic absorption spectrometry., Results: The Al and Fe concentrations in children without a history of caries were 0.093±0.136 and 0.121±0.128 μg/mL, respectively. The Fe level depended on sex. The Fe level in girls who experienced caries was significantly higher than that without caries history. The Al and Fe levels were significantly higher in children with treated caries than children without caries history. The Fe concentrations were affected by restoration type. Composite resin increased the Fe level significantly especially in girls, and the Fe level was also higher in boys treated with both composite resin and metal restorations. In children without caries history, the Al level was inversely proportional to the number of deciduous teeth and increased with the number of permanent teeth. In contrast, the Fe level showed the reverse tendency., Conclusions: The Fe level in mixed saliva of children was influenced by the restoration type. It was suggested that Al was eluted more from sound permanent teeth than sound deciduous teeth, while Fe was eluted in the opposite manner., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

To examine the standard Mn and Cu concentrations in mixed saliva from children and the relationship between these levels and dental caries, resting mixed saliva samples obtained from 527 children of an elementary school in Kitakyushu City were collected at 10:00-11:30 a.m. during December 2004. The Mn and Cu concentrations were determined using simultaneous multi-element atomic absorption spectrometry. The standard Mn and Cu levels were 22.0+/-15.2 and 3.8+/-4.1ng/mL, respectively, in the sound teeth group. Mn levels were significantly higher in boys (25.4+/-17.4ng/mL) than girls (19.1+/-12.3ng/mL) and also higher in upper (25.5+/-16.4ng/mL) than lower (19.0+/-13.5ng/mL) grades. The Cu level was unaffected by sex and age in the sound teeth group. The Cu level in children with caries experience (5.7+/-5.3ng/mL) was significantly higher than that of the sound teeth group. Moreover, the Cu levels in children with untreated caries were significantly higher than that of the sound teeth group, and increased with the number of untreated teeth. No significant difference was found in the Cu concentrations between the group in which all decayed teeth were treated and the sound teeth group. The Mn levels were similar with or without caries and treatment. These findings indicate that the Mn level in mixed saliva depended on sex and age, and suggest the possibility of Cu dissolving into mixed saliva by demineralization due to dental caries.

We have developed an oat cell-free apoptosis system to investigate the execution mechanisms of plant apoptosis. Cell extracts derived from oat tissues undergoing toxin (victorin)-induced apoptosis caused nuclear collapse and internucleosomal DNA fragmentation in isolated nuclei. Pharmacological studies revealed that cysteine protease, which is E-64-sensitive but insensitive to caspase-specific inhibitors, is a crucial component in the morphological change of isolated nuclei, and that nuclease and the cysteine protease act cooperatively to induce the apoptotic DNA laddering. Interestingly, this finding is contrasted with those in well-studied animal cell-free systems in which an apoptotic endonuclease is solely responsible for the DNA fragmentation.