Lipid composition of marmoset saliva.

The lipid content and composition of marmoset saliva was investigated. Extraction of the dialyzed and lyophilized saliva with chloroform/methanol yielded 15.6 +/- 3.1 mg of lipids/100 ml of saliva. Of the total lipids, 41.7% were represented by neutral lipids, 50.7% by glycolipids and 7.6% by phospholipids. Neutral lipids had a high content of free fatty acids (67.0%), cholesterol and its esters (20.0%) and triglycerides (11.8%). The glycolipid fraction was comprised of simple glycosphingolipids (13.2%), and of neutral and sulfated glyceroglucolipids (86.8%), whereas sphingomyelin, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine accounted for 63.6% of the total phospholipids. The results indicate that marmoset saliva, in comparison to that of human, contains twice as much of total lipids and exhibits an elevated level of phospholipids, and glycolipids.