Interpretation of Argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions[AgNORS] count in cervical smears

ABSTRACT

The AgNOR staining technique for nucleolar organizer regions [AgNORs] was applied to 50 cervical smears of suspicious cases. The mean numbers of AgNORs in normal cervical cells were superficial cells [2.3], intermediate cells [2.6], basal cells [2.5] and endocervical cells [2.4]. The mean number of AgNORs dots in mild dysplastic cells was [2.8] and of moderate, severe dysplastic cells were [3.6], [4.1], respectively, while in malignant cells was [4.0]. The AgNOR stain is useful in the differentiation between normal, dysplastic and malignant cells. No significant difference between mean number of AgNORs dots in normal and mild dysplastic cells, also between severe dysplastic and malignant cells