Argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) in odontogenic myxoma (OM) and ameloblastic fibroma (AF)

• DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0714.2001.030008489.x
• Publication Date: 2003-03-12T07:45:43Z
• Authors: Cristiane Martins; Yasmin Rodarte Ca...; Maria Auxiliadora...
• Keywords: cell division; Silver Staining; 571; Odontogenic myxoma; Odontogenic Tumors; Epithelium; Statistics, Nonparametric; Mesoderm; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; mesoderm; nonparametric test; Nucleolus Organizer Region; Humans; Nonparametric; human; comparative study; silver staining; Observer Variation; odontogenic tumor; Statistics; ultrastructure; observer variation; chromosome NOR; Argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs); Ameloblastic fibroma; pathology; epithelium; Cell Division

Abstract: Ten cases of odontogenic myxoma (OM) and six cases of ameloblastic fibroma (AF) were subjected to comparative analysis by the AgNOR technique, in order to determine a possible difference in cell proliferation index between these lesions. The mean AgNOR number of the mesenchymal component of AF was compared with its epithelial component and the difference was not found to be statistically significant. The mean AgNOR index of the AF group was significantly higher than that of the OM group. Moreover, the mesenchymal component of AF demonstrated increased AgNOR numbers compared with that of OM (P<0.05). These results suggest that the epithelial and mesenchymal components of AF may have similar cell proliferative activity. However, the cell proliferative index of this lesion seems to be higher than that of OM.