ABSTRACT
There is no evidence of an increased quantity of ingestion of copper in areca nut chewers by way of habitually swallowing the 'quid juice' allegedly contain 'appreciable quantity' of soluble copper. Our experimental findings are favour of assuming that the amount of copper ingested, if at all, is well within the threshold limit of tolerance and therefore of no clinical significance. In conjunction with our earlier observation this study again proved the absence of visible and clinically/diagnostically detectable fibrosis in visceral organs, that includes liver, in patients suffering from advanced oral submucous fibrosis.
Subject(s)
Adult , Areca/adverse effects , Case-Control Studies , Chi-Square Distribution , Copper/analysis , Feces/chemistry , Female , Humans , Liver/diagnostic imaging , Liver Cirrhosis/diagnostic imaging , Male , Matched-Pair Analysis , Middle Aged , Oral Submucous Fibrosis/metabolism , Spectrophotometry, AtomicABSTRACT
Lectins are a group of specific glycoproteins present in cells, particularly cell membrane. Recently, lectin binding studies have been used as a diagnostic as well as prognostic indicator of neoplasm's. Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is a potential premalignant condition predominantly seen in Indian subcontinent. A comparison of expression of lectin binding was studied in normal tissue, OSMF cases and oral squamous cell carcinoma. The OSMF cases were grouped into early and advanced conditions as per the histopathologic criteria. Patterns of lectin binding observed with advanced OSMF cases were comparable with that of Oral squamous cell carcinoma. The role of lectin binding studies in assessing the malignant potential of a pre-malignant condition is discussed.