Year : 2015

Volume : Volume 5

Issue : Issue 1

Address for correspondence :
Dr. Avanindra Kumar
avanindrakumar@gmail.com

Abstract

Aim: Micronuclei in exfoliated buccal cells are a useful and minimally invasive method for monitoring genetic damage in humans. To evaluate study of micronuclei in exfoliative cytology of premalignant & malignant lesions affecting the oral mucosa. Materials and method: Oral exfoliative cytological smears were taken from control and study groups. Group-I included 15 cases of Oral Submucous Fibrosis, Group- II included 15 cases of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma and 15 cases of age, sex and site matched healthy subjects having no habits of consumption of tobacco, other tobacco related substances or alcohol were considered as control group. Smears were stained by using the Papanicolaou (PAP) staining procedure.  The smears were placed on Labomed ATC 2000 microscope and 1000 cells with intact nuclei and cell boundaries were counted. The zigzag method was followed for screening of slides. Results: The result showed that the mean no. of micronuclei was statistically significantly increased (p = 0.000) from control group to Oral Submucous Fibrosis to Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.  Conclusion: Micronuclei are the results of aberrant mitosis and consist of acentric chromosomes, chromatid fragments, or aberrant chromosomes caused by genotoxic damage. These increased no of micronuclei suggest that micronuclei are a product of early events in human carcinogenic process, especially in oral regions. Assessment of the number of MN can be used as a strategy to identify the genotoxic damage in epithelial cells which are exposed to carcinogens or mutagens.

Keywords: Micronuclei, Exfoliative Cytology, Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Oral Submucous Fibrosis.