RESUMO
The value of Silver Staining of nucleolar organizer regions [AgNOR] counts as a diagnostic aid has been reported for several neoplastic entities. The aim of this study to determine the evaluation of the expression of AgNOR as a marker of proliferation in squamous cell carcinoma grade I, verrucous carcinoma and oral normal mucosa. Silver-Stain nucleolar organizer regions AgNORs were counted in sections from formalin fixed paraffin embedded blocks of 20 cases of well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, 20 cases of verrucous carcinoma and 10 cases of normal oral mucosa. Two methods of AgNORs counting were used. The mean number of AgNOR nucleus [M AgNORs] and determination cells containing 3 or more AgNORs/ nucleus [P AgNOR] as indicator of the proliferative activity of the cells. Statistical differences were found between normal oral mucosa, verrucous carcinoma WD squamous cell in AgNOR related parameters. AgNOR would be a quantitative, discriminative aid, easy to monitor in a pathology laboratory in detection incipient cellular alterations and contribute to the issue of early diagnosis and to the knowledge of tumoral growth