European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Context: The mouth and face are highly accessible parts of the body, sensitive to and able to reflect changes occurring internally. In order to contribute the understanding of the role of the different biomarkers and their relationship with the extremely variable clinical manifestation of sickle cells disease, this study investigated the micronuclei frequency in buccal cells in sickle cell traits, sickle cell anemia patients and controls.
Aims: To assess the frequency of micronuclei in buccal cells of patients with sickle cell trait, sickle cell disease and healthy individuals.
Settings and Design: The sample for present study comprised of 30 patients of Sickle cell trait , 30 patients of sickle cell disease and 30 healthy individuals as control .
Methods and Material: .Exfoliative cytology slides were prepared from buccal mucosa. Cells were examined and micronuclei frequency was calculated in percentage for each subject.
Statistical analysis used: Results were evaluated for statistical significance using student t test unpaired and ANOVA test
Results: For group I of sickle cell trait mean micronucleated cell % observed was 0.12 with standard deviation (SD) of 0.13. For group II ( sickle cell disease ) Mean micronucleated cell % observed was 0.75 with a SD of 0.22 for group III (control) mean micronucleated cell % was 0.08 with SD of 0.11.
Conclusions: The study suggests that individuals with sickle cell anemia, regardless of clinically visible oral lesions, show cytological changes in oral mucosal epithelium.
Key-words: Sickle cell anemia ,exfoliative cytology , micronuclei