AMMONIA PRODUCTION IN SALIVA

¹ Chemistry Department, University of Toronto, and the Consumers Research Laboratories Ltd., Toronto, Canada

1. An ammonia-producing mechanism has been observed in saliva which produces five to ten times the amount of ammonia originally present, on incubation at 37° C. for twenty-four hours.

2. The amount of ammonia produced is the same when stimulated and unstimulated saliva is used.

3. Sodium fluoride and glucose were found to have an inhibiting effect on ammonia production.

4. Heating to 50° C. for twenty-four hours irreversibly inactivates the ammonia-producing mechanism.

5. Urea added to saliva increases the ammonia production, indicating the presence of a urease in saliva. When both glucose and urea are added they stimulate the production of ammonia beyond the amount produced when urea alone is added. There was no indication that glucose increases the urease activity of jack bean meal.

6. Centrifuging partially removes the protein which is the probable substrate of the ammonia-producing mechanism in saliva.

7. The ammonia-producing mechanism is removed by filtering the saliva through a Seitz filter or a fritted-glass funnel.