Quantitative cytomorphometric analysis of exfoliated normal gingival cells

BACKGROUND: The use of oral exfoliative cytology as a diagnostic aid accentuates the need for establishing an accurate baseline, thereby enabling the comparison of abnormal oral tissue with established baseline. AIMS AND OBJECTIVE: To detect any changes in the nuclear area (NA), cytoplasmic area (CA), and nuclear:cytoplasmic ratio (N:C ratio) values for clinically normal gingival smears in relation to age and sex of apparently healthy subjects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Gingival smears were collected from 80 (40 male, 40 female) apparently healthy subjects belonging to the age group of 0–20, 21–40, 41–60, and more than 60 years. Smear slides were fixed by using spray fixative. The smears were stained using Papanicolaou procedure. The cytoplasmic and NAs were measured using image analysis software. Statistical analysis of the data was done using one-way ANOVA with Tukey–HSD procedure and Student's t test. RESULTS: The result showed that there was a significant difference (P<0.001) in NA, CA, and N:C in males of different age groups. There was a significant difference (P<0.001) in NA, CA, and N:C in females of different age groups. The difference in N:C between males and females was significant (P<0.001) in all the groups. The difference in NA, CA, and N:C with age irrespective of gender was significant (P<0.05). There was a significant difference (P<0.05) between males and females with respect to NA, CA, and N:C irrespective of age. CONCLUSION: Age-and sex-related alterations were observed in gingival smears, which could be a baseline for these variables to compare identical measurements, made on pathologic smears of oral premalignant and malignant lesions.