Comparative morphometric study of AgNORs in variants of ameloblastoma

AIMS: To compare the area and number of AgNORs (silver stained nucleolar organizer regions) by morphometry between follicular and plexiform variants of ameloblastoma in order to analyze their cell proliferation rates. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study was carried out on 30 cases each of follicular and plexiform ameloblastoma. The sections were obtained and stained with silver staining technique to identify the nucleolar organizer regions. AgNORs were quantified using two parameters; manual tag for the number of AgNORs and area measurement using the image analyzer software, Image-Pro-Express. RESULTS: Morphometric area measurements of AgNOR were significantly higher for Plexiform ameloblastoma (0.831μm(2)) than follicular ameloblastoma (0.528μm(2)). Enumeration of the number of AgNORs showed a significantly higher number of AgNOR for follicular ameloblastoma (1.71) than plexiform ameloblastoma (1.43). Among the groups studied, follicular ameloblastoma was more aggressive than plexiform ameloblastoma, as it showed smaller AgNOR area and higher AgNOR number. CONCLUSION: The combination of counting the number and measuring the area of AgNOR dots showed a significant overall difference between AgNOR profiles of follicular and plexiform variants of ameloblastoma.