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Anonymous
Properties of saliva The total amount of saliva secreted in an adult is 1200-1500ml/ day. It is slightly acidic in reaction with a pH ranging from 6.02 to 7.05. On boiling it looses CO2 and becomes alkaline.The specific gravity of saliva is 1.002-1.012 and its freezing point is 0.07 to 0.340C. About 99.5 percent of saliva is water and 0.5percent is solids. The cellular constituents include yeast, bacteria, protozoa, polymorphonuclear leucocytes and desquamated epithelial cells. The inorganic salts constitute 0.2% of the saliva and consist of sodium chloride, potassium chloride, sodium biphosphate, calcium carbonate, etc. The organic constituents of the saliva amount to 0.3% and they include amylase, maltase, esterase, lipases, carbonic, lysozymes, mucins, amino acids, cholesterol, urea, vitamins etc. The gases in saliva include oxygen (1.0ml), nitrogen (2.5ml), and carbon dioxide (50 ml) per 100ml of saliva. The author is the Head, Dept of Zoology, Christ College.
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