Histochemical analysis of polarizing colors of collagen using Picrosirius Red staining in oral submucous fibrosis.

BACKGROUND Oral Submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is a common potentially malignant disease, which is characterized by generalized fibrosis of the oral soft tissues. It is due to disproportion in the collagen deposition and degradation. The excess deposition of collagen results in juxta epithelial fibro elastic changes and epithelial atrophy. Neoplastic changes in the epithelium usually precede the changes in the connective tissue. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the changes in birefringence of collagen using picrosirius stain and compare with haematoxylin and eosin stained section. MATERIALS & METHODS The study was conducted on 50 subjects, which included 45 patients diagnosed with different functional and histopathological grades of OSMF and 5 in control group. Picrosirius red stain was used to analyze collagen both histopathologically and qualitatively using polarizing microscopy. Chi-square test at p value <0.05 was used to analyze the results and the significance was tabulated. RESULTS Collagen fibers showed mixed birefringence with a shift in polarizing colour from yellow to red-orange in lamina propria, around the muscle and blood vessels, which was correlating with the conventional H&E stain. CONCLUSION The results of present study show a significant change in birefringence of collagen between the various components of connective tissue. This change in birefringence colors and arrangement of collagen fibers might give an assumption of impending neoplastic change in OSMF. How to cite the article: Velidandla S, Gaikwad P, Ealla KK, Bhorgonde KD, Hunsingi P, Kumar A. Histochemical analysis of polarizing colors of collagen using Picrosirius Red staining in oral submucous fibrosis. J Int Oral Health 2014;6(1):33-8.