title: Evaluation of the nucleolar organizer region associated proteins in exfoliative cytology of normal buccal mucosa. Effect of smoking.
abstract: An evaluation of cellular alterations in the smoker's oral mucosal cells was performed. The Exfoliative Cytology technique was applied and the cytological smears stained with silver for the enumeration of Argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs). Cytological smears were collected from two anatomic sites: floor of the mouth and tongue border, in both groups, smokers and non smokers, with a purpose of correlating the smoking habit to possible cellular alterations. The enumeration of the AgNORs showed that the average number of AgNORs is higher in smokers. There is a significant difference (P=0.0001) between smears from the floor of the mouth and from tongue border in the smoking group. In this study, no correlation between number of cigarettes, age and gender was found, but the results suggest that there might be a correlation between the smoking habit and an increased rate of cellular proliferation in the oral mucosal cells.
authors.affiliation: Departament of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Av. Ipiranga, 1600 Prédio 06, sala, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. pittella@uol.com.br
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Cançado
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Yurgel
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Filho
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009060:Mouth Floor / Q000166:cytology; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000166:cytology*; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D009697:Nucleolus Organizer Region / Q000737:chemistry*; D016622:Silver Staining; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014059:Tongue / Q000166:cytology; D014626:Vaginal Smears
chemical_list: D009687:Nuclear Proteins