Shifts in Biochemical Markers Associated with Wound Healing in Laryngeal Secretions Following Phonotrauma: a Preliminary Study

The current study sought to determine whether shifts in key components of the inflammatory process could be detected from laryngeal secretions sampled before and after vocal loading. A healthy 44-year-old woman served as the subject. The vocal folds were swabbed to collect baseline secretions. Ten and 20 minutes after nearly constant loud phonation for 1 hour, the vocal folds were swabbed again. The findings indicated strong shifts in several key inflammatory mediators: interleukin-1beta, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and matrix metalloproteinase 8. The concentrations of those mediators continued to increase from the 10- to 20-minute postloading time-points. Transforming growth factor beta and prostaglandin E2 did not demonstrate clear shifts. In summary, mediators reflecting the acute inflammatory process could be detected from laryngeal secretions in an awake human. The upward slope of the curves at the 20-minute time interval indicates the need for longer follow-up sampling to determine the full biological response of the vocal folds to acute phonotrauma.