Evaluation of Papanicolaou stain for studying micronuclei in buccal cells under field conditions.
OBJECTIVE
To compare Papanicolaou (Pap) and May-Grünwald Giemsa (MGG) stain as 2 techniques for staining for buccal mucosal cells to detect micronuclei (MN) infield studies.


METHODS
Eighty cytologic smears (2 per individual) were taken from the buccal mucosa of 40 cigarette smokers recruited at a rural village in Egypt. Forty smears were stained with Pap stain and 40 with MGG stain. All were assessed for cellularity and scored for MN.


RESULTS
Pap stain was faster and easier to process and transport in the field study than was MGG stain. Regarding MGG smears, bacteria and cell debris masked the MN as compared to Pap smears, in which the fixative destroyed the bacteria and made the cell boundaries clearly demarcated. Using Pap stain, MN were seen easily in transparent cytoplasm.


CONCLUSIONS
Pap stain is the preferred method infield studies for scoring and detecting MN in cells of buccal mucosa.
Ayyad
Sohair B A
SB
Cytopathology and Early Cancer Detection Unit, Ain Shams University Hospitals, Egypt.
Israel
Ebenezer
E
El-Setouhy
Maged
M
Nasr
Ghada Radwan
GR
Mohamed
Mostafa K
MK
Loffredo
Christopher A
CA
D001399:Azure Stains; D004534:Egypt; D006801:Humans; D048629:Micronuclei, Chromosome-Defective; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000473:pathology*; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods*; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000379:methods*
D001399:Azure Stains