ABSTRACT
Background/objectives In patients receiving concomitant chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) as a treatment for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), cytological changes were seen not only in neoplastic epithelial cells but the non-neoplastic epithelial cells are also affected, resulting in cytopathological atypical changes. The present study was designed to observe oral epithelial atypical cytopathologic changes induced in contralateral normal buccal mucosa in OSCC patients receiving CCRT. Methods The study included 150 patients with OSCC treated by CCRT whose details were collected from the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Oncology Lahore (INMOL) Hospital Lahore. Cytological smears were obtained from the contralateral normal buccal mucosa of OSCC patients. The serial scrape smears were taken before, immediately after, on the 17th day (mid of treatment), and at the end of CCRT, whereas 20 patients were taken as normal healthy controls and were not exposed to CCRT. The smears were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and Papanicolaou stain. SPSS version 20 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.) was used for statistical analysis and p > 0.05 was considered to be significant. Results CCRT-induced oral epithelial atypical cytological changes were predominantly noted at end of therapy (19.7%) in the contralateral normal buccal mucosa. Nuclear atypia features were higher on the 17th day and end of treatment; whereas, epithelial atypia was mainly observed on the 17th day of CCRT (40%). A highly significant association was observed between epithelial atypia and radio-chemotherapy dose (p = 0.045), between CCRT-induced epithelial atypical cytological changes and days of treatment (p = 0.001), and between days of CCRT and nuclear atypia (0.000) accordingly. Atypia was not observed in any control group. Conclusion Varying degrees of oral epithelial atypical cytological changes may occur in otherwise normal contralateral mucosa of the patients receiving CCRT.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Arsenic is a teratogenic agent present in the environment as oxides and arsenate and humans are exposed to it through contaminated drinking water, food, soil and air. This investigation was undertaken to evaluate protective role of Vitamin C and E against teratogenic injury produced by sodium arsenate in developing kidney of the mouse. METHODS: Twenty-four pregnant albino mice of BALB/c strain, were randomly divided into 4 groups of 6 each: A1, A2, A3 and A4. Group A1 served as the control and received weight related distilled water by intra-peritoneal (I/P) injection, group A2 was given a single doses of 35 mg/kg on 8th GD whereas groups A3 and A4 were treated with Vitamin C and E by IP injection, 9 mg/kg/day and 15 mg/kg/day respectively, starting from 8th day and continued for the rest of the pregnancy period. The foetal kidneys were weighed and histological studies carried out including micrometry on different components of nephron. RESULTS: Sodium arsenate toxicity manifested as an increase in weight of the kidneys, wider nephrogenic zone and significant reduction in the mean of number of mature renal corpuscles as compared to the control group (p < 0.000). There were moderate to severe necrotic and degenerative changes in proximal and distal convoluted tubules; glomeruli were hypercellular, the Bowman's spaces were obliterated. There was a statistically significant difference in mean diameter of renal corpuscles of group A2 when compared with groups A1, A3 and A4, (p < 0.000). CONCLUSIONS: The findings implied that groups receiving Vitamin C and E along with sodium arsenate showed an overall improvement in all parameters, indicating the protective role of Vitamin C and E against arsenic induced teratogenicity in developing kidney and are safe to use during pregnancy without deleterious effect on human conspectuses in arsenic exposed areas.
