Title

Salivary oxidative stress biomarkers across oral submucous fibrosis stages among Indian patients

Authors

Satish Bhosale¹, Gargi Nimbulkar^2,*, Archana Gaikwad², Prachurya Dakshinakabat³, Priyanka Mahale⁴ & S. Prasanna⁵

Affiliation

¹Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology & Oral Microbiology, Bharati Vidyapeeth Dental College & Hospital, Sangli, Maharashtra, India; ²Department of Dentistry, Government Medical College & Hospital, Miraj, Dist-Sangli, Maharashtra, India; ³Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology & Oral Microbiology, Geetanjali Dental & Research Institute, Geetanjali University, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India; ⁴Department of Prosthodontics and Crown & Bridge, SDM College of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Dharwad, Karnataka, India; ⁵Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology & Oral Microbiology, Seema Dental College & Hospital, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Satish Bhosale - Email: drsatish.bhosale@gmail.com
Gargi Nimbulkar - Email: garginimbulkar@gmail.com; Phone: +91 9421703449
Archana Gaikwad - Email: archana.gaik71@gmail.com
Prachurya Dakshinakabat - Email: prachurya143@gmail.com
Priyanka Mahale - Email: drpriyankamahale@gmail.com
S. Prasanna - Email: dr.prasanna1oralpath@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received September 1, 2026; Revised September 30, 2026; Accepted September 30, 2026, Published September 30, 2026

Abstract

Oral submucous fibrosis is a chronic potentially malignant disorder in which clinical staging is mainly based on mouth opening and fibrotic bands, while non-invasive biochemical indicators of disease severity remain insufficiently used. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the salivary malondialdehyde, 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine, superoxide dismutase, catalase and total antioxidant capacity in 120 participants, including 80 clinically staged oral submucous fibrosis patients and 40 healthy controls. Unstimulated whole saliva was collected under standardized morning conditions, biomarkers were measured by enzyme-linked and colorimetric assays and clinical staging was performed using interincisal mouth opening, burning sensation score and palpable fibrotic band distribution. Mean salivary malondialdehyde increased from 2.18 ± 0.64 micromol/L in controls to 6.41 ± 1.32 micromol/L in stage III disease, while total antioxidant capacity declined from 1.42 ± 0.31 to 0.72 ± 0.22 mmol/L; oxidative markers correlated negatively with mouth opening and positively with clinical stage (p < 0.001). Thus, data shows that a salivary oxidative stress panel can provide a practical adjunct for staging and monitoring oral submucous fibrosis.

Keywords

Oral submucous fibrosis, saliva, malondialdehyde, 8-OHdG, antioxidant capacity, clinical staging

Citation

Bhosale et al. Bioinformation 22(9): 5621-5625 (2026)

Edited by

Ashwini Dhopte

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.