A recent study has revealed that
human saliva contains a chemical (antimicrobial peptide) which boosts the
formation of blood vessels and helps the process of recovery from an injury.
According to a study published
online in the Journal of Federation of American Societies for Experimental
Biology (FASEB), a salivary peptide called histatin 1 promotes blood vessel
formation which is critical to the efficiency of wound healing.
“The clear results of the present
study open a wide door to a therapeutic advance. They also bring to mind the
possible meaning of animals, and often children licking their wounds,” said
Thoru Pederson, Editor-in-Chief of the FASEB Journal.
Also commenting on the findings
of the study, Vicente Torres, an Associate Professor at the faculty of
dentistry, University of Chile said: “these findings open new alternatives to
better understand the biology underlying the differences between oral and skin
wound healing”.
“We believe that the study could
help the design of better approaches to improve wound healing in tissues other
than the mouth.”
The study involved experiments at
three levels: blood vessel-forming cells in culture, chicken embryos as animal
models and saliva samples obtained from healthy donors.
Using these three models,
histatin-1 and saliva were found to increase blood vessel formation.
Researchers are now taking the
next step in the study using these molecules to generate materials and implants
to aid in wound healing.
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