Cytological and cytomorphometric evaluation of the oral mucosa in HIV-infected patients undergoing antiretroviral therapy

Background To evaluate HIV infection-induced alterations in the oral mucosa by comparing inflammation, cell maturation and cytomorphometric changes in oral mucosal cells between HIV-infected patients undergoing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and non-HIV-infected patients. \ Methods Thirty HIV-infected patients undergoing HAART and 30 non-HIV-infected patients were studied. Four smears were obtained from the lateral border of the tongue and floor of the mouth with a cytobrush. One sample was stained by the Papanicolaou technique and three samples were processed for Feulgen staining. Papanicolaou-stained smears were analyzed by light microscopy and the cytoplasmic (CA) and nuclear (NA) area was measured with the Axion Vison 4.7 program (Carl Zeiss). Results The Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed a significant difference in intermediate epithelial cell types between the HIV-infected and non-HIV-infected groups (p=0.005). However, this difference was not observed for superficial epithelial cell types with (p=0.672) and without a nucleus (p=0.069). Comparative analysis revealed no significant difference in CA (p=0.604), NA (p=0.298) or NA/CA (p=0.456) between the HIV-infected and non-HIV-infected groups. Keratohyalin granules were more frequent in the non-HIV-infected group (p=0.0001). Conclusions The results showed alterations in cell maturation in HIV-infected patients undergoing HAART with undetectable viral load, but no morphometric changes were observed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.