Study is being done to determine if it is possible to use saliva to measure bone specific proteins and predict bone turnover which could be used in the treatment of osteoporosis.

Prevention and treatment of osteoporosis require sensitive and specific assays of bone turnover. Presently, serum or urinary assessments are used. However, the development of other procedures that are more patient-convenient, non-invasive and cost-efficient would significantly facilitate a clinician's ability to determine bone turnover. The objective of this application is to determine the feasibility of using saliva for this measurement. We will compare serum, urinary and salivary levels in 50 pre- and 50 post-menopausal women. Markers to be measured are bone alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin, procollagen type propepties hydroxypyridinium crosslinks of collagen and crosslinked collagen telopeptides. Collection of saliva, serum and urine will be done at a single visit. We expect to observe reasonable good correlation between serum and saliva levels and poorer correlation between urine and saliva levels.

Inclusion:

• 50 pre-menopausal females (25-40 yo)
• 50 post-menopausal females (55-70 yo)
• Good systemic health
• Good oral health

Exclusion:

• arthritis
• active periodontitis
• history or actively smoking
• diabetes
• HIV positive
• anti-coagulant therapy
• bone fracture within the past year
• pregnancy
• known metabolic bone disease

The subject population will be limited to pre-menopausal and post-menopausal females who are in good systemic health in an attempt to determine whether salivary levels of bone turnover markers hold valuable promise as a replacement or partner biofluid for serum and/or urine. In addition, proper selection of the subject population will minimize the effect of confounding variables. The specific inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria are listed below.