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New Device Offers Easy Collection of Passive Saliva Samples

Posted on Wednesday, October 9, 2013

 

State College, PA (PRWEB) June 28, 2012 -- Collection of whole saliva samples is now easier with the introduction of the Saliva Collection Aid, a device developed by SalivaBio, LLC in collaboration with researchers at the Center for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research (CISBR) at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. The new collection aid is available from Salimetrics, and customers may order the devices along with other collection supplies and biomarker assay kits.

Whole saliva is a mixture of the individual secretions from a number of saliva glands that empty into the mouth, and it may contain various additional components from the oral cavity. Many researchers consider whole saliva to be the gold standard when collecting samples for biological testing because it avoids differences in saliva composition seen in the secretions from specific salivary glands.

Although collecting whole saliva by spitting or drooling might seem to be easy, it actually can be a messy task that discourages some people from donating samples. Previously, researchers who wanted to use the passive drool method had to supply short sections of ordinary drinking straws to donors and ask them to drool through the small diameter straw into vials to collect saliva. Or, they would have donors drool into larger containers, and then laboriously transfer the sample into smaller vials for storage. The new Saliva Collection Aid from SalivaBio helps solve these problems by making it possible to collect whole saliva cleanly and efficiently, directly into individual standard cryovials.

The device also has a number of other features that will make it attractive to researchers and saliva donors: individually packaged in a clean, foil pouch; increased participant compliance; ready-to-go instructions; vented design helps reduce foaming of the saliva sample; one-time use and dispose; constructed of polypropylene to avoid sample retention or contamination; universal fit with common external thread cryovials.

Although some donors find it preferable to use absorbent swabs such as the Salimetrics Oral Swab to collect saliva samples, these devices have a number of limitations, including: retention of certain analytes in the swab; swab may cause assay interference for certain analytes; difficulty in observing the volume of saliva collected by the swab; swab complicates estimation of saliva flow rates, which is required for some analytes; under certain conditions, swab may possibly collect specific glandular saliva.

The Saliva Collection Aid can help avoid these problems associated with absorbent swabs by making it easier for donors to give whole saliva samples. According to Douglas A. Granger, PhD, Director of CISBR and professor of Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health at Johns Hopkins, who helped develop the new device, “It’s not rocket science – it’s a practical solution that will enable saliva analytes to be integrated effectively into basic and clinical studies and consumer applications.”

For more information, visit Salimetrics at https://www.salimetrics.com.







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