Abstract
The purpose of this research was to objectively assess the cell and nucleus dimensions of human bulbar conjunctival cells in female soft contact lens wearers to illustrate a method for assessment of the nucleus-to-cytoplasm ratio based on simple linear measures. Impression cytology samples were taken from the nasal side exposed bulbar conjunctiva surface from 12 young adult, white European females with a history of successful daily soft contact lens wear. A Millcell(®)-CM filter was used after topical anesthesia, which was stained with Giemsa. Color images of portions of the cells, in a monolayer at 200× magnification by light microscopy, were graded by the Nelson scale and then a projection overlay method was used to outline the cell and nucleus borders. The cell longest dimension (LONG), shorter dimension (SHORT), and the longest dimension of the nucleus (NUCLONG) were measured. A nucleus-to-cytoplasm N:C ratio was calculated from (LONG-NUCLONG)/NUCLONG. Cells had appearances consistent with a grade 2 or 3 squamous metaplasia and were moderately enlarged (mean LONG ± SD of 46.0¿±¿3.8 microm), only slightly elongated (mean LONG:SHORT ratio of 1.397¿±¿0.101) and the nucleus size was consistently greater than normal (man 12.8¿±¿1.3 microm). A calculation of N:C showed a relatively wide range of values with average values from 1:2.143 to 1:3.317 (for an overall mean of 2.675¿±¿0.371).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 599-606 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Current Eye Research |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2011 |
Keywords
- squamous metaplasia
- contact lenses
- cytology
- conjunctiva
- vision sciences