The Morphological Characteristics of the Buccal Epithelium in Smoking Students of the Belgorod Region

The aim of the study was to explore the morphological characteristics of buccal epithelium in smoking students of the Belgorod region. Objects and methods. The study involved twenty 2nd year students who are studying in the Medical Institute (faculty of the medical business and pediatrics), Belgorod State National Research University (Russian Federation) of mature age (18-21 years) a male without concomitant somatic and mental disorders. The students were divided into two groups of 10 persons each. The first group included students who smoke 6-8 cigarettes per day experienced 2-3 years of smoking, and the second - no smokers (control group). The buccal epithelium was taken at the same time. Using a spatula from the mucous membrane of a cheek buccal epithelium smear was taken. The slides were made and stained with hematoxylin-eosin. Objects have studied with a microscope OLYMPUS CX21, followed by photographing and obtaining the image (Motic Images Plus 2.0). Results and discussion. The students of the control group the epithelial cells in the buccal smear lie apart of each other and as a group - are very rare. The cells of the surface layer of the epithelium have polygonal shape with small nuclei and pale pink cytoplasm. The cells of the spinous layer are large, polygonal shape, with small granular inclusions in the cytoplasm and oval nucleus. The cells of the basal layer and the horny scales are very rare. In smoking students, as compared with the control group, in the field of view are visualized group of cells that are densely overlapped and epithelial cells encountered between a large number of leukocytes. In some cases, the latter occupy most of the field of view. The smoking students are identified epithelial cells with protrusion of the nucleus type of the "tongue" and "broken egg". The some epithelial cells contain a micronucleus, not uncommon cellular dimorphism. The cells of the intermediate layer often contain two nuclei, or a notch. According to research results of the Meyer et al. (2010), micronuclei are acentric chromosome fragments and separate whole chromosomes that are lost during mitosis, and protrusion of the nucleus type "broken egg" looks like a micronucleus associated with the nucleus by a bridge of the nucleoplasm, but the bridge can connect similar in size structures. The research results of the V.N. Kolaev, V.G. Artyuhov and M.S. Nechaev (2012) show that the protrusion of the nucleus type "tongue" is an egg on two bridges of the nucleoplasm. This protrusion, similar to micronuclei, can be formed by enzymes of the chromosomes or stragglers whole chromosomes in violation of the division spindle, the nuclear membrane around which is connected to the membrane of the main nucleus. The authors claim that the above changes relate to the cytogenetic violations, including during the inflammatory process. Nuclei with a circular notch formed during incomplete mitosis as a result of damage of the division spindle. In healthy individuals the observed changes can be attributed to aging and natural death of epithelial cells of the oral cavity. Conclusion. Considering the obtained data such as increasing the number of the leukocytes in the field of view, the appearance of micronuclei, protrusions of the nuclei, the nuclei with the notch can be assumed that the emergence of the buccal epithelium in smoking students, as compared with the control group, can indicate of the inflammation in the oral mucosa.