Saliva Used as Biological Fluid To Detect Neurodegenerative and Neurodevelopmental Diseases

The varied disorders of the brain and central nervous system can have a devastating impact on an individual from altered emotional states or behavioral patterns to outright loss of an awareness of self and the surrounding world. The fields of Neuroscience, Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Psychiatry have advanced significantly, benefiting from a concerted effort to better understand the brain and nervous system in the latter decades of the 20th century; “The Decade of the Brain”. Contemporary diagnosis now includes the use of advanced imaging studies and genetic and molecular laboratory testing resulting in more accurate diagnosis, allowing early treatment using an ever-increasing repertoire of novel disease-modifying strategies. The word “biomarker” is a concept that has been around a while, mostly in the context of cancer, with researchers attempting to identify specific “biomarkers” that may be associated with a particular type of cancer or prognosis for that cancer. Recently, the definition of biomarker has been expanded to include any identifiable trait/protein/characteristic that can be used to reliably predict or identify a physiological, pathological condition, or response to treatment. Biomarkers ideally would allow the clinician to predict the underlying pathology, in the context of personalized medicine. They are most impactful when they appear and can be identified at an early stage of a disease, solving the temporal vulnerability problem in neurologic diseases. Accelerating the development of biomarkers for brain and central nervous system disorders is dependent on having the ability to detect candidate molecules in a meaningful way and one methodology is to directly biosense bodily fluids. Of the available sources of body fluids, saliva is perhaps the most accessible. Placing a biosensor in the mouth overcomes the technical challenges of sensing other fluids such as interstitial fluid, cerebrospinal fluid, urine, or even gastrointestinal fluids. The incorporation of a biosensor into oral appliances is now a very realistic possibility. Saliva is an ideal fluid to monitor because it has equivalence to monitoring plasma but is much more accessible on a continuous basis. The aim of this Research Topic is to collect manuscripts that describe available and novel biomarkers for neurological disease and their translational potential to be sensed through salivary biosensing.

The following potential topics are welcome:
Viral contributions to the development of Alzheimer's disease
Diabetes and its role in Alzheimer's disease
Biomarkers for other neurodegenerative dementias
Parkinson's disease
Schizophrenia
Autism
ADHD
PTSD
Anxiety/Depression
Neurodevelopmental Disorders