Determination of progesterone in saliva

The progesterone derivative 11-alpha-glucuronide-iodine tyramine (125I) was used for a radioimmunoassay analysis to study the possible correlation of progesterone concentration in saliva with progesterone level in serum. Female subjects had 2 ml of blood taken during the menstrual cycle in the morning after saliva samples were collected. Group A consisted of 1 women who used 2-3 citric acid crystals for inducing saliva production while in Group B consisting of 10 women there was not such stimulation. Basal temperature was also measured. In Group A 1 of the women was taking a hormonal contraceptive 8 women had regular cycles (24 an 20 days) and 2 had irregular cycles. In Group B 1 woman was also using contraceptives. 2 male subjects also participated in the saliva tests daily for 4 weeks. In precision measurements the intra-assay variation coefficient range within a series was 8.4% (lower concentration area) and 3.9% (higher concentration area). The sensitivity of the assay was 3.12 pg/ml in a volume of .4 ml (p 0.05). The 11 menstrual cycles of Group A consisted of 5 normal cycles 5 with luteal insufficiency and 1 under hormonal therapy. The 5 normal cycles showed a biphasic course of progesterone value in the saliva whereby in the 2nd half of the cycle the values averaged about 100 pg/ml over the values of the follicular phase which were 100 pg/ml compared to 200 pg/ml in the luteal phase. The progesterone values in the saliva of patients with corpus luteum insufficiency and the 1 under hormonal treatment did not show periodicity: the values ranged between 75 and 150 pg/ml. In Group B only 4 cycles had a biphasic course of progesterone in the saliva in another 2 it was doubtful and in the remaining 4 it did not show any periodicity. The progesterone values of the 2 males averaged from 80 to 120 pg/ml. The daily changes of saliva progesterone levels in 5 subjects indicated individual scatterings of 25 to 100 pg/ml from the average values. The progesterone profile of 3 subjects showed similar abrupt changes in 3 measurements but only a 20 pg/ml deviation from the average.