Efficacy of Various Stains to Study Mitotic Figures in Oral Epithelial Dysplasia - A Pilot Study

Background: Although Haematoxylin and Eosin is a widely used stain to study oral epithelial dysplasia, sometimes studying mitotic figures in sections stained with these stains might pose problems. Mitotic figures is one of the major criterias to assess dysplasia. Various methods to illustrate mitotic figures have been developed over the years including microscopy, morphometry, flow cytometry, nucleotide radiolabelling and immunohistochemistry. But these methods are not cost effective and less feasible for routine use. Selective stains such as crystal violet, giemsa, toluidine blue, feulgen have been used for staining mitotic figures in tissues. Aim: The present study aims to evaluate effectiveness of various stains for studying mitotic figures. Objectives: To study the efficacy of various specific stains to highlight mitotic figures in oral epithelial dysplasia. Material & methods: The study sample includes sections from tissues embedded in paraffin blocks diagnosed as oral epithelial dysplasia. These sections will be stained with various stains and the mitotic figures will be assessed. Results: Mitotic figures were enhanced with feulgen stain. Conclusion: The study will be further continued with greater sample size for quantification of mitotic figures with H & E and Feulgen stain