Thymosin beta(4) and beta(10) levels in pre-term newborn oral cavity and foetal salivary glands evidence a switch of secretion during foetal development.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Thymosin beta(4), its sulfoxide, and thymosin beta(10) were detected in whole saliva of human pre-term newborns by reversed-phase high performance chromatography coupled to electrospray ion-trap mass spectrometry.

Methodology/principal findings

Despite high inter-individual variability, concentration of beta-thymosins increases with an inversely proportional trend to postmenstrual age (PMA: gestational age plus chronological age after birth) reaching a value more than twenty times higher than in adult whole saliva at 190 days (27 weeks) of PMA (thymosin beta(4) concentration: more than 2.0 micromol/L versus 0.1 micromol/L). On the other hand, the ratio between thymosin beta(4) and thymosin beta(10) exhibits a constant value of about 4 along all the range of PMA (1

SUBMITTER: Nemolato S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2659445 | biostudies-literature | 2009

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature