266 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS HYALURONIDASE ACTIVITY .6- - N Z UJ WITHOUT )RANGE I STANDARD ERROR WITH COLDS Figure 1. Another study conducted along these same lines involved 155 subjects se- lected at random. A single sample of saliva was assayed for hyaluronidase activity, 95 of these subjects were free from symptoms, while 60 of these subjects had "colds" or described symptoms of upper respiratory involve- ment. It was found that those patients with "colds" exhibited an elevated titer 21/2 times the activity of the normal of those individuals not demon- strating symptoms (6). The hyaluronidase activity was assayed ac- cording to the method of viscosimetric reduction of hyaluronic acid sub- strate. Figure 2. The lysozyme titer depression associated with upper respira- tory disturbances on 62 subjects is shown. Definitely demonstrated is a pattern which several investigators have seen that the normal lysozyme titer is depressed during the course of colds as the patient recovers from the symptoms lysozyme titer tends to return to normal (6). These findings confirmed those of Joseph and Shay who in 1951 (7) demonstrated that the lysozyme titers diminished appreciably in patients suffering from colds. Fleming (8), Ridley (9) and Meyer (10) have shown lysozyme to be a mucolytic enzyme which may be related to the natural defense mechanism in human beings. Its appearance in tears, nasal secretions, leucocytes and saliva suggests that it may serve as defense barrier in areas exposed to the external environment. It is not known at this time whether the actual out- put of lysoxyme which is derived from the parotid gland, as far as the saliva

THE BEAUTY OF THE ENZYME SCREEN 267 LYSOZYME TITERS ASSOCIATED WITH UPPER RESPIRATORY DISTURBANCES - (COLDS) :34. TIME ! •'S% TRANS. I!T ]• I00- UNITS I•] NORMAL '[] BEFORE SYMPTOMS •1 DURING SYMPTOMS D RECOVERING NORMAL I-2DAYS I-4DAYS 5-14DAYS RECOVERING Figure 2. is concerned, is depressed or whether the lysozyme titer has been inactivated by certain components of the infectire agent. In any event, there are in- dications that project correlations with the titer and the symptoms of the i•dividual. When comparing it to Fig. 1 in which the hyaluronidase titer had been elevated during upper respiratory disturbances, an inverse re- lationship exists between the two enzyme activities. Since it is known that hyaluronidase is not derived from tissues of mammalian sources and appears to be solely produced by the microflora of the oral cavity and/or some as yet unknown viruses, we can compare the systemic enzyme reaction to the pathology and the other enzyme which is the by-product of infective agents. In continued studies with these two enzyme systems, observations were made that in patients with periodontal disease as weal as those with high incidence of dental caries the lysozyme titers were pronouncedly reduced. Studies were undertaken to uncover the possible relationship of periodontal disease and salivary hyaluronidase. Three hundred subjects were clinically and radiographically examined to determine the state of the periodontal