Journal of Pierre Fauchard Academy (India Section)

Talari Archana ¹, Rithika Bashamalla ¹, Guttikonda Venkateswara Rao ¹, Taneeru Sravya ¹, Yeluri Sivaranjani ¹, Madala Jaya Kiran ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Oral Pathology & Microbiology, Mamata Dental College, Khammam, Telangana 507002, IN

Abstract

Introduction: Barr body is a deeply stained condensed chromatin material seen in the nuclei of females, which is taken as a vital tool in the identification and determination of sex of the individual. Various staining techniques can be used for their demonstration. However, staining with carbol fuchsin, papanicolaou and acridine orange were considered appropriate as they produce stronger contrast and are simple to use.
Aim: To determine the sex and also to assess the accuracy and efficacy of special nuclear stains like carbol fuchsin, papanicolaou and acridine orange in staining Barr bodies.
Materials and methods: A total of 300 samples were included in the present study. The smears were collected and subsequently stained with three different special stains of which 100 samples were stained with acridine orange, 100 with papanicolaou and 100 with carbol fuchsin. Stained smears were examined for Barr bodies and also for their staining accuracy and efficacy.
Results and discussion: Barr body was found to be negative in the male samples and positive for female samples with acridine orange yielding 64%, papanicolaou yielding 46.14% and carbol fuchsin 8.68% of Barr-body-positive cells.
Conclusion: On comparison, the efficacy and accuracy for detection of Barr bodies were more with acridine orange followed by papanicolaou and carbol fuchsin.

Keywords

Barr Body, Carbol Fuchsin, Papanicolaou, Acridine Orange.

Full Text