Salivary α-Amylase And Chromogranin A In Anxiety-Related Research

Salivary α-amylase (sAA) and chromogranin A (sCgA) are at the forefront of current biochemical research on anxiety. Their use is being driven by the sudden surge of interest in "salivaomics," a new field in medicine studying saliva's genetic code, proteome and methabolom. Interestingly, it is not the primary functions of the enzyme and the protein, but the ingenious capture of their secondary ones (maintenance of the acid-alkaline balance and bactericidal / antifungal action) that allows for a swift, precise and pain-free measurement under physical and mental duress. Upon stimulation, sAA and sCgA are almost simultaneously released. Studying them allows a closer look at the autonomic nervous system (ANS) as opposed to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), which involves a long cascade of complex, hard to measure and interpret bio-chemical reactions.