Cytological assessment of Barr body in buccal scrapes: A comparative study

Abstract

IntroductionBarr 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. AimTo 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 methodsA 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 discussionBarr 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. ConclusionOn comparison, the efficacy and accuracy for detection of Barr bodies were more with acridine orange followed by papanicolaou and carbol fuchsin.