Salivary amylase activity monitor used for stress evaluation

The authors have been focusing on the activity of alpha-amylase in saliva (salivary amylase) with the aim of developing a simple quantitative measurement technique to monitor human stress. However, measurement of enzymatic activity required a sufficiently enough volume of substrate and the realization of quantification also required some mechanism to control the reaction time. Based on this concept, a salivary amylase activity monitor consisting of the test strip, the salivary transcription device and an optical analyzer was fabricated. The calibration curve for the salivary amylase activity monitor obtained an R² value of 0.72. It was considered that the monitor could be used for the analysis of salivary amylase activity. In order to evaluate the monitor, salivary amylase activity was measured with a roller coaster ride as a mental stressor. A significant difference between salivary amylase activities were recognized in before the ride and after the ride, and it was confirmed that increasing or decreasing human stress levels could be perceived as rises and falls in salivary amylase activity.