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Dietary Studies on Salivary Protease Activity in Caries-Susceptible Rats¹

Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts

Representatives of the Harvard and Hunt-Hoppert strains of caries-susceptible rats were used to determine whether gross dietary variations and the presence or absence of carious lesions influenced protease activity and protein content of the saliva. No significant correlation was observed between salivary protease values and the diet fed nor between salivary protease values and the incidence of dental caries. Salivary protease activity increased with age in both strains with a strikingly greater increase among the Hunt-Hoppert animals. No correlation was observed between diet, animal age, strain and the concentration of salivary protein.

These data are taken as further evidence that the association between salivary protease activity in the Hunt-Hoppert strains of caries-resistant and caries-susceptible rats is a chance genetic occurrence and is not indicative of a causal relationship.

² Present address: P. O. Box 340, Franklin Park, New Jersey.

Manuscript received 23 June 1958.