By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have linked an enzyme in human saliva to sleep loss.
The scientists first made the link in fruit flies, which share many genetic similarities with humans.
Lead author Paul Shaw says there is another chemical marker for sleep deprivation, but it's only found deep in the recesses of the brain. But he says amylase is easy to get at.
"We've been able to find a biomarker of sleepiness in saliva, which is a readily-accessible biofluid," Shaw said. "And that allows the way for a test to be developed that can be used in real-world situations. That's not easy to do with blood or other biological samples."
Shaw says in the future, amylase tests may be used to diagnose sleep disorders. But he says it would have to be used along with other chemical markers, which remain undiscovered.