Salivary Lubricity (Ex Vivo) Enhances Upon Moderate Exercise: A Pilot Study

This study sought to examine the effects of moderate intensity exercise on lubrication performance of saliva. We hypothesized that exercise would result in enhanced salivary lubricity by direct sympathetic stimulation of the salivary proteins…
In total, 11 healthy young pre-menopausal female participants (mean age: 24.4 ± 1.8 years, BMI: 22.1 ± 1.9 kg/m2) were included in a within-subjects repeated measures experimental design. Unstimulated whole saliva was collected at rest (S0), immediately after 45 min of moderate intensity cycling at ∼70 % maximum heart rate (mean: 133.4 ± 0.8 bpm) or time-match quiet rest (S1), and after a 60 min of recovery period (S2). Ex vivo salivary lubricity were measured using soft tribology. Total protein content, mucin (MUC5B) concentration, and α-amylase activity were determined.