Comparative study of honey, jaggery an ethanol as cytological fixatives

Abstract

The processing of cytological samples. It is the gold standard cytological fixative used in many laboratories. However, it is an expensive, volatile and flammable liquid with an irritant smell. It has also been shown to be carcinogenic in some animal models. Hence, a need to identify a safer substitute of alcohol cytological fixative is necessary. The aim of study was to analyse the efficacy of cytological smears fixed in ethanol & 20% unprocessed honey and 30% jaggery solution and to compare the efficacy between the three fixatives on staining. Three buccal smears from 50 healthy volunteers each, were collected from either cheek or tongue using wooden spatula. One of the smear was fixed in ethanol (95%) and Rapid Papanicolaou staining was done. And the other two smear was fixed in honey (20%) and Jaggery (30%) and Rapid Papanicolaou staining was done. The cytoplasmic and nuclear details were evaluated using following parameters:- nuclear staining, cytoplasmic staining, cell morphology, clarity of staining and uniformity of staining. The results were recorded by 2 independent oral pathologists. Pearson Chi square test and Bonferroni post hoc test were used for comparison of qualitative data.