Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: It has been argued that salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) is a potential indirect sympathoadrenal medullary (SAM) system activity marker. This study aimed to look at sAA to assess the sympathetic nervous system in acromegaly patients.

Subjects and Methods: A total of 31 individuals with acromegaly and 30 controls were enrolled in this prospective, single-center investigation. Saliva samples were taken from individuals with acromegaly and controls in the morning and at midnight. SAA activity were measured in patients with acromegaly and controls in the morning and at midnight.

Results: The morning sAA activity in the acromegaly group was 1.76 ± 0.38 U/ml, while the control group had 2.26 ‘13; 0.65 U/ml. Morning sAA activity were considerably lower in the acromegaly group (P<0.001) when compared to the control group. The midnight sAA activity in the acromegaly group was 1.79 ± 0.58 U/ml, and the midnight sAA activity in the control group was 2.19 ± 0.58 U/ml. When the two groups were compared, the midnight sAA activity of the acromegaly group was significantly lower (P=0.002). In addition, morning and midnight sAA activities were found to be similar between acromegaly groups with active and inactive diseases (respectively P=0.54, P=0.63).

Conclusions: This study showed that sAA activity, which is used as an indicator of sympathetic nervous system activity, was decreased in the acromegaly group compared to the control group. Additionally, morning and midnight sAA activity between acromegaly groups with active and inactive disease were similar. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to show the link between sympathetic nervous system activity and sAA activity in acromegaly.