Histomorphometric comparative analysis between the oral mucosa of fibrous inflammatory hyperplasia and oral leukoplakia

BACKGROUND: Oral leukoplakia is the most common potentially malignant lesion, the etiology of this change is still uncertain which makes it difficult to predict when this will undergo malignant transformation. Recent studies have examined the involvement of mast cells in this process, it is believed that these cells through the release of pro-angiogenic factors influence the processing mechanism of such lesions through promoting angiogenesis. It was the objective of this study to evaluate the inflammatory process in oral leukoplakia comparing it to a non-cancerous lesion correlating the intensity of mast cells with inflammatory infiltrate and vascularization in these lesions. METHODS: A total of 20 selected cases divided into two groups, oral leukoplakia and inflammatory fibrous hyperplasia (IFH). Histochemical Technique of Toluidine Blue was applied to enhance mast cells and histomorphometry for quantifying mast cells, blood vessels and inflammatory cell infiltration by capturing digital images of the samples and analysis software Image Java version 1.48v. Mast cells and blood vessels were counted in 10 different areas and the intensity of the inflammatory infiltrate was measured in three areas. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for between-group variation, a P value of 0.05 for statistical significance. RESULTS: It was observed a reduction in the concentration of mast cells in oral leukoplakia compared fibrous inflammatory hyperplasia. In contrast to the concentration of blood vessels were present in higher concentrations in the Oral leukoplakia lesions. The inflammatory infiltrate in most cases was considered scarce, except in a case where that IFH was intense and a case of moderate inflammatory infiltrate in oral leukoplakia. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed reduction in the number of mast cells in the oral leukoplakia and greater intensity in the inflammatory process in the IFH, suggesting a possible carcinogenic influence in the microenvironment oral leukoplakia.