What is surrounded by saliva? where on earth does it come from?
Answers: Saliva is the watery and usually frothy substance produced surrounded by the mouths of humans and most other animals. Saliva is produced in and secreted from the salivary glands.
Produced within salivary glands, human saliva is 98% water, but it contains frequent important substances, including electrolytes, mucus, antibacterial compounds and sundry enzymes. [5]
It is a fluid containing:
* Water
* Electrolytes:
o 2-21 mmol/L sodium (lower than blood plasma)
o 10-36 mmol/L potassium (higher than plasma)
o 1.2-2.8 mmol/L calcium
o 0.08-0.5 mmol/L magnesium
o 5-40 mmol/L chloride (lower than plasma)
o 25 mmol/L bicarbonate (higher than plasma)
o 1.4-39 mmol/L phosphate
* Mucus. Mucus in saliva principally consists of mucopolysaccharides and glycoproteins;
* Antibacterial compounds (thiocyanate, hydrogen peroxide, and secretory immunoglobulin A)
* Various enzymes. There are three major enzymes found contained by saliva.
o α-amylase (EC3.2.1.1). Amylase starts the digestion of starch and lipase fat beforehand the food is even swallowed. It has a pH optima of 7.4.
o lysozyme (EC3.2.1.17). Lysozyme act to lyse bacteria.
o lingual lipase (EC3.1.1.3). Lingual lipase have a pH optimum ~4.0 so it is not activated till entering an sour environment.
o Minor enzymes include salivary acid phosphatases A+B (EC3.1.3.2), N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanine amidase (EC3.5.1.28), NAD(P)H dehydrogenase-quinone (EC1.6.99.2), salivary lactoperoxidase (EC1.11.1.7), superoxide dismutase (EC1.15.1.1), glutathione transferase (EC2.5.1.18), class 3 aldehyde dehydrogenase (EC1.2.1.3), glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (EC5.3.1.9), and tissue kallikrein (EC3.4.21.35).
* Cells: Possibly as much as 8 million human and 500 million bacterial cell per mL. The presence of bacterial products (small organic acids, amines, and thiols) cause saliva to sometimes exhibit foul odor.
* Opiorphin, a newly researched pain-killing substance found within human saliva.
And it's made in the salivary glands contained by and around your mouth and throat. We call the key salivary glands the parotid, submandibular, and sublingual glands.
In addition to the above 'quote', saliva enter the mouth through 3 ducts: Bartholin's, Stenson's & Wharton's...which are the 'roads' from the glands to the mouth.
:)
saliva is a watery fluid secreated from your salivary glands. They are to gross your food eaten to travel smoothly into your stomack & the interstine, they lubricate the food. It contains some enzimes to digest carbohydrates.
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