Salivary antibacterial components in the salivary sediment of children. This investigation was aimed to determine antibacterial salivary factors in the salivary sediment; those factors were to be compared to the same factors of the saliva. - Unstimulated and stimulated whole saliva was collected by 59 children (24 girls / 35 boys; age: 10-11 years). After centrifugation the salivary sediment was resuspended in 0,5 M NaCl and incubated at 4°C for 2 hours. Thereafter, it was centrifuged again. Both supernatants were examined for their contents of lysozyme, peroxidase, thiocyanate, secretory immunoglobulin A (S-IgA), µ-amylase, and total protein. For the eluted portions, the quantities per gram sediment as well as their hypothetical concentrations in the starting volume of saliva were calculated. Both were then compared to the salivary concentrations or activities, respectively, by means of the paired t-test, with p£0.05 as the level of significance. - In each case, all examined salivary components could be eluted from the sediment. The quantities per gram sediment were much higher than the quantities per ml of saliva. Thus, an enrichment must have taken place on the surfaces of the corpuscular components of the saliva. The eluted quantities correspond to 30-50% of the salivary concentration concerning peroxidase, 75-90% concerning lysozyme, 5-15% concerning thiocyanate, 27-40% concerning s-IgA and 9-15% concerning total protein. Therefore, the adsorbed antibacterial sali-vary factors of the salivary sediment should be taken into account, when the salivary composition is discussed in connection to oral diseases. Keywords: saliva, salivary sediment, peroxidase, lysozyme, secretory immunoglobulin A, protein, Thiocyanate, alpha-amylase