International Journal of Health Sciences & Research (www.ijhsr.org) 203 Vol.9; Issue: 7; July 2019 International Journal of Health Sciences and Research www.ijhsr.org ISSN: 2249-9571 Original Research Article Clinical Significance of Antioxidant Levels in Saliva of Raw Betel Nut Chewer’s: an Experience from Assam Lhakit Lepcha 1 , Manash Pratim Sarma 2 , Amal Chandra Kataki 3 , Bala Gopalan Unni 4 1 Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, Assam Down Town University 2 Department of Biotechnology, Assam Down Town University 3 Dr Bhubaneswar Borooah Cancer Institute (BBCI) 4 Research Directorate, Assam Down Town University Corresponding Author: Lhakit Lepcha ABSTRACT Background: Saliva as a diagnostic component is emerging as powerful diagnostic tool. Saliva is delivered from various salivary glands. It is always considered to be the first line of defense against oxidative stress and often provide the perfect medium to explore for health and disease surveillance. Various sources of oral free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) are oral disease or/and tobacco consumption. Materials and methods: we have determined the salivary antioxidant specially targeting uric acid and total antioxidant capacity in three groups i.e. Control population (No exposure to betel nut and healthy), raw betel nut chewers and oral cancer patients. Result and Conclusion: Significant variation is seen in all the three categories. Mean value uric acid and Total Antioxidant in cancer patients and Tamol chewers are less as compare to control with the mean value of 2.7330, 3.6185 and 6.8545 for uric acid and .98635, 51500 and 1.19500 for total antioxidant capacity respectively which state an oxidative state in the oral cavity of the respective categories. Uric acid and total antioxidant capacity can be the important and promising salivary biomarker for raw betel nut associated oral cancer. Key words: Saliva, Betel Nut, Biomarker, Oral cancer, North East INTRODUCTION In past few decades saliva has been used as a new diagnostic tool. The saliva fluid contains water, normal protein, lysozyme, peroxidase, immunoglobulin and other small molecules. The use of saliva as an alternative tool for monitoring the oral diseases and as a diagnostic tool represents various advantage as it is easily assessable and non-invasive method. [1] Oral stress indicates the imbalance between the production of highly reactive molecular species (ROS), reactive nitrogen species (RNS) and antioxidant defense system. Where the formation of ROS or RNS increase and/or decrease antioxidant. Oxidative stress is now implicated in the pathology of several oral diseases such as oral cancer. Antioxidant resent in the saliva represents the first line of defense mechanism against Oxidative Stress. Saliva is rich in antioxidant such as Uric acid, albumin, ascorbic acid, glutathione and antioxidant enzyme. [2] Various sources of oral free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) are tobacco chewing and smoking that further can lead to oral cancer. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generating in significant amounts in oral cavity during chewing of betel quid/ betel nut. ROS can be determine in the oral mucosa and are reported to be