Normal optical densitometric parameters in exfoliative cytology from different zones of the oral mucosa free of pathology

Exfoliative cytology is a rapid, inexpensive and non-invasive diagnostic tool, and is therefore very useful in clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to examine the behaviour of the optical densitometric parameters of normality in five different zones of the oral mucosa free of pathology. Thirty three patients, ranging between five and seventy five years of age, free of general and oral pathology were studied. Smears were collected with the Cytobrush® and fixed with Labofix®. The smears were stained with Hematoxylin Eosin and analysis was carried out with a semiautomatic image analyser (Microimage 3.0). The following parameters were studied: luminic density of the cytoplasm, luminic density of the nucleus, red density of the cytoplasm, blue density of the cytoplasm and green density of the cytoplasm. SPSS 7.5 was used in the statistical analysis. Variance analysis was preformed with the Bonferroni correction for multiple comparison of means, which considered p<0.01 as being statistically significant. Significant differences were found in the parameters studied (optical density) among the different zones of the oral mucosa.