Salivary Metabolomics in the Diagnosis and Monitoring of Neurodegenerative Dementia

Abstract

Millions of people suffer with dementia worldwide. However, early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases/dementia (NDD) is difficult, and no specific biomarkers have been found. This study aims to review the applications of salivary metabolomics in diagnostics and the treatment monitoring of NDD A literature search of suitable studies was executed so that a total of 29 original research articles were included in the present review. Spectroscopic methods, mainly nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, give us a broad view of changes in salivary metabolites in neurodegenerative diseases. The role of different salivary metabolites in brain function is discussed. Further studies with larger patient cohorts should be carried out to investigate the association between salivary metabolites and brain function and thus learn more about the complicated pathways in the human body.