Nucleolar Organizer Regions of Oral Epithelial Cells in Crack Cocaine Users

Background: The health risks of crack cocaine smoking on the oral mucosa has not been widely researched and documented. Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze the proliferative activity of oral epithelial cells exposed to crack cocaine smoke using silver nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) staining. Methods: Oral smears were collected from clinically normal-appearing buccal mucosa by liquid-based exfoliative cytology of 60 individuals (30 crack cocaine users and 30 healthy controls matched for age and gender) and analyzed for cytomorphologic and cytomorphometric techniques. Results: Crack cocaine users consumed about 13.3 heat-stable rocks per day and the time consumption of the drug was of 5.2 (± 3.3) years. Mean values of AgNOR counting for case and control groups were 5.18 ± 1.83 and 3.38 ± 1.02 (P<0.05), respectively. AgNOR area and percentage of AgNOR-occupied nuclear area were increased in comparison with the control (P0.05). Conclusion: This study revealed that crack cocaine smoke increases the rate of cellular proliferation in cells of normal buccal mucosa.