Saliva samples are non-invasive, making it ideal for use with children or patients that will not comply with blood collections or even intrusive nasal swabs. Saliva/sputum tests also increase the efficiency of collection while minimizing sample handling and errors.

Saliva is a complex fluid containing various enzymes, electrolytes, proteins, nucleic acids, antimicrobial constituents, hormones, cytokines, and antibodies. Its composition virtually reflects the entire state of health and disease in a body, and it has the potential of being a diagnostic medium for a broad range of diseases, such as cancer and infectious agents, CMV, HIV, respiratory viruses (avian influenza viruses and coronaviruses) and bacterial infections.

Universal inhibitor tolerant mixes and universal inhibitor resistant mixes are designed to tolerate inhibitors from a wide range of sample types from blood to plants. In adjusting the composition of these mixes to fit all these sample types, some compromise is required, and this leads to a reduction in the sensitivity (Ct values). In designing the saliva specific mixes, we have not had to make these compromises and so the sensitivity is the same as if the nucleic acid had been purified, enabling assay sensitivity down to as low as 1 copy of DNA.

You will have faster time to results, no extraction is necessary.
You will get better sensitivity, for low copy number samples.
Less cross contamination, everything is done in a single tube, so there is less chance of mixing labels or adding materials into the wrong tubes.
More convenient, the dried assay can be stored at room temperature and the sample added directly and run.
Reduced cost, there are no extraction costs or cold storage and cold transport costs.

With the Air-Dryable^™ Direct DNA qPCR Saliva and Air-Dryable^™ Direct RNA/DNA qPCR Saliva, you can see down to 1 copy in a 20 µL reaction.

For a DNA test up to 60% saliva or sputum can be used and for an RNA test up to 50% saliva or sputum can be used.

The Air-Dryable^™ Direct DNA and RNA/DNA qPCR Saliva can both be used directly as a liquid mix, or air-dried, without changing the sensitivity of the assay. The master mixes are 4x concentration, this means that in a 20 µL reaction, 5 µL the master mix and 1 L of primers and probes are used allowing for up to 14 µL of saliva or sputum to be added, however if the master mix, primers, and probes are air-dried, then up to 20 µL of saliva or sputum can be added.

This will depend on what you are testing for and the amount, for example with SARS-CoV-2 heating to 95°C for 10 minutes has been shown to be beneficial, particularly with low viral loads, however Zika virus does not need pre-treatment, whereas some bacteria may require strong pre-treatment (such as proteinase K and heat inactivation).

Up to 35% UTM can be used in the qPCR saliva test without affecting the sensitivity of the assay.

Yes, the Air-Dryable^™ Direct DNA qPCR Saliva and Air-Dryable^™ Direct RNA/DNA qPCR Saliva can both be used in multiplex qPCR and RT-qPCR saliva test or sputum test.

Yes, the Air-Dryable^™ Direct DNA qPCR Saliva and Air-Dryable^™ Direct RNA/DNA qPCR Saliva can be used as a liquid mix or air-dried and stored for up to 24 months without needing to change the reaction conditions and this drying/ambient temperature storage will not affect the sensitivity of the PCR test.