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Volume 7 Issue 11 (November, 2019)

Original Articles

Oral Submucous Fibrosis- Correlation of Cytological Staining of Copper with Histopathological Grading
Rahul K. Rupapara, Denil A. Solanki, Jyoti Chawda

Background: Oral submucous fibrosis(OSF) is a well recognized potentially malignant condition of the oral cavity. There is strong evidence associating the disease with the habit of areca nut. The copper content in areca nut products to be relatively high and it is released in the mouth while chewing. The addition of copper to fibroblasts at concentrations compatible with that found in saliva after chewing areca nut cause a significant increase in the synthesis of collagen. There are very few studies were carried out to determine the copper levels in buccal epithelial cells of patients with oral submucous fibrosis. Aim: The following study was carried out to determine the copper levels in buccal epithelial cells of patients with oral submucous fibrosis and controls to throw light on role of copper in etiopathogenesis of OSF. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out on 40 patients of oral submucous fibrosis and 10 normal healthy controls with comparable age and sex and were clinically categorized into three clinical stages according to their ability to open the mouth. Two cytological smears were taken from both OSF patients and control and staining of the smear was done by a modified rhodanine technique. The slides were examined under light binocular microscope and the patterns of staining were classified into negative, mild, moderate and intense. Results: The control smears showed pale red stain within cytoplasm of all epithelial cells. Out of 40 patients of oral submucous fibrosis, 13(32.5%) patients showed mild copper content, 15(37.5%) patients showed moderate copper content and 12(30%) patients showed intense copper content in buccal epithelial cells. From them 33 patients of clinical grade II, 13(39.39%) patients showed mild copper content, 14(42.42%) patients showed moderate copper content and 6(18.18%) patients showed intense copper content in buccal epithelial cells. Out of 7 patients of clinical grade III, 1(14.28%) patient showed moderate copper content and 6(85.71%) patients showed intense copper content in buccal epithelial cells. Conclusion: The correlation of clinical grade with copper content in exfoliated buccal epithelial cells was significant (P=0.002). Key words: Oral submucous fibrosis, copper, areca nut, oral exfoliative cytology.

 
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