Argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region counts in exfoliative cytology of buccal mucosa from opium addicts, smokers and nonsmokers.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) count of cells collected from the normal buccal mucosa of cigarette smokers, opium addicts and nonsmokers.

STUDY

DESIGN

Exfoliative cytologic smears of buccal mucosa from 25 smokers, 25 addicts and 25 nonsmokers were stained for AgNORs according to the Ploton's method. The AgNOR count was performed on 100 cells. These AgNOR counts were compared and analyzed using the SPSS 13 program (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.) and one-way ANOVA test.

RESULTS

Statistically, the highest mean AgNOR count (mAgNOR) was in cells from opium addicts (9.21 +/- 2.95) and the lowest in cells from nonsmokers (4.35 +/- 1.62) (p < 0.0001). For smokers, this value was in midrange (5.68 +/- 2.17). The percentage of cells with 6 or more AgNORs (pAgNOR > or =6) was the best discriminator among the different groups (p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

Cigarette smoking and particularly opium abuse increases the rate of cellular proliferation in cells of normal buccal mucosa.