Effect of smoking on human pharyngeal mucosa

ABSTRACT

To study the effect of smoking on pharyngeal mucosa, biopsies were taken from 70 adult males [50 smokers and 20 non smokers] under general anesthesia during tonsillectomy operation. General examination was carried out to exclude any associated systemic diseases. The prepared paraffin sections were stained with Hematoxyline and Eosin [Hx and E], for the general structure of pharyngeal mucosa, Brachet reaction for DNA and RNA content and Schiff's reagent for neutral mucopolysaccharides content. The histopathological examination of these sections showed changes in the pharyngeal mucosa of smokers in the form of chronic inflammation, hypoplasia, hyperkeratosis, dysplasia, submucous fibrosis, atypical hyperplasia, nuclear atypia and carcinoma in situ