Cytogenetic biomonitoring in children with chronic tonsillitis: micronucleus frequency in exfoliated buccal epithelium cells.

Objective: To investigate the possible harmful cytogenetic effects associated with chronic tonsillitis by analyzing the micronucleus frequency and other nuclear abnormalities in exfoliated buccal epithelial cells.

Materials And Methods: The study consisted of 20 children with chronic tonsillitis, and 20 control subjects with similar age and sex. The ages ranged between 5 and 12 years old (mean age: 7.5). The patients were diagnosed as having chronic tonsillitis on the basis of history, throat culture and clinical examinations. Buccal cell samples were collected with a wooden spatula. The samples were then applied to clean microscope slides. Smears were air dried and fixed in methanol:acetic acid. Then slides were stained by the Feulgen reaction technique. Three slides were prepared for each subject and 1000 cells were evaluated per slide to determine the frequencies of micronucleus and other nuclear abnormalities (binucleats, karyorrhexis and karyolysis). Statistically, Mann-Whitney U-test was used to analyze and compare the data.

Results: The mean micronucleus frequencies in patient and control groups were 5.29+/-1.67 and 1.58+/-0.33, respectively. In the patient group, mean binucleus, karyorrhexis and karyolysis frequencies were 3.13+/-1.2, 2.04+/-0.64, and 1.74+/-0.47, respectively. However, in the control group, mean binucleus, karyorrhexis and karyolysis frequencies were 1.43+/-0.47, 1.26+/-0.45, and 0.88+/-0.27, respectively. The mean frequencies of all parameters in the patient group were higher than the control values, and the difference was found to be statistically significant (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Our results revealed that children with chronic tonsillitis could be under risk of significant cytogenetic damage.