ABSTRACT

Abstract-Patients with bulimia nervosa (BN) have disturbances of mood and behavior related to monoamine activities. There have been no reports concerning salivary concentrations of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in patients with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa (AN) and BN. In order to elucidate the involvement of 5-HT in eating disorders, 5-HT levels in the saliva of patients with BN were measured. Salivary 5-HT levels in patients with avoidant personality disorder (APD) were also measured as an active control. 5-HT levels in the saliva of patients with BN and APD were compared with those of 32 healthy volunteers. Simultaneously, salivary 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) was measured using HPLC-ECD. 5-HT levels were 41.04 ± 14.41 in 11 patients with BN (10 women and 1 man, average age 19.6 years), 78.55 ± 45.55 in 5 patients with APD (3 women and 2 men, average age 19.2 years) and 8.91 ±1.10 ng/ml in 32 healthy controls (25 women and 7 men, average age 21.7 years), respectively. This is the first report that salivary concentrations of 5-HT were significantly higher in BN (p < 0.05) and in APD than those in healthy controls. We found no significant differences among the salivary DOPAC levels in BN, APD and those of healthy controls. There were no significant differences in body mass index among the three groups. 5-HT concentrations in the saliva may be a useful marker of stress or eating disorders.