Comparison of Salivary Amylase-levels in the Human Male and Female

Abstract

IN 1940, Lacassagne¹ demonstrated sexual dimorphism in the submandibular glands of mice and other rodents. Later, Raynaud and Rebeyrotte^2,3 found that the amylase-level of saliva from male mice is 50 per cent higher than that of female mice. They also reported that administration of testosterone propionate to female mice raised their salivary amylase-level to that of untreated males and that castration of males reduced their amylase-level to that of normal females. Swigart et al.⁴ have reported that the amylase content of the submandibular glands of male mice is three times that of the female, that castration reduced the submandibular gland amylase-level of the male mice to less than 50 per cent of normal and that administration of testosterone to castrated females raised the submandibular amylase-level to a level comparable to that in the male.