Evaluation of AgNOR count in cytological smears of chronic bidi and hookah smokers

Oral Squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) accounts for over 90% of oral cancer cases and a small percentage of these cases are thought to develop from potentially malignant disorders. Main etiological factor associated with OSCC is smoking. It’s a well known fact that in chronic smokers nuclear alterations are evident. There is a correlation between nucleolar function, size and cell doubling time in human cancer cell lines, which has shown the importance of nucleus in tumor pathology. The nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) are ribosomic DNA loops which can be clearly visualized at the light microscopic level by using a silver reaction which stains the acidic, non histonic proteins present in the nucleus. AgNOR is useful in estimating nuclear proliferative activity and it acts as a marker of pre-malignant and malignant change. The aim of this study is to compare the proliferative activity by AgNOR count in cytosmears of chronic bidi and hookah smokers in a section of Haryana population.