Analysis of saliva by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for diagnosis of physiological stress in athletes

Introduction Saliva is the most promising biofluid to monitor the physiological state of athletes, because this method is not invasive and has low contamination risks. The characterization of saliva by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) has been studied as an alternative technique to the standard clinical analysis. However, methodological procedures for saliva analysis are not completely clear, especially in terms of influence of storage conditions and sample preparations for infrared analysis. Thawed saliva includes a precipitate, which may influence the infrared spectral analys...