Efficacy of acridine orange and papanicolaou stains in sex determination using barr bodies in buccal smears: A comparative study

Abstract

Objective: Sex determination can be done by buccal epithelial cells in saliva traces found at a crime scene by examining the presence of Barr bodies in the nucleus of the epithelial cells. The present study aims to assess the efficacy of sex determination using Acridine Orange (AO) and Papanicolaou (PAP) stains for the detection of Barr bodies in buccal mucosal scrapings. Materials and Methods: Buccal scrapings from 120 healthy individuals (60 males and 60 females) were collected and were stained with AO and PAP stains. The analysis of fifty epithelial cells in each sample was done for the identification of Barr bodies. The presence of Barr bodies ≤ 5% in the sample was recorded as male and those with > 5% was recorded as female. Both stains were evaluated for percentage accuracy in determining sex. Results: In AO-stained slides, the percentage of Barr bodies ranged from 4 to 31 in females and from 0 to 9 in males, whereas with PAP the ranges recorded were 3–21 in females and 0–6 in males (P Conclusion: Using Barr bodies in the buccal cells, providing up to 95%–98% accuracy, made it a considerable aid for sex determination. AO stain proved better than PAP stain for visualizing nuclear details with its remarkably shorter staining time and confirmed superior sex estimation efficiency compared to PAP stain.