Incidence of Mast Cells in Gingival and Periapical Inflammation- A Kaleidoscopic Study

Mast cells are large granular cells that have classically been related to neutrophil stimulation during early step of inflammation.

The objective of this work was to identify the incidence of mast cells in inflammatory lesions like periapical granuloma, pyogenic granuloma, gingival hyperplasia. 1. To assess the staining intensity of mast cells by using different metachromatic stains. 2. To correlate the above findings histopathologically.

In this study, we used 5 micron thick sections from paraffin-embedded tissue blocks of previously diagnosed periapical and gingival inflammatory lesions. The sections were stained with routine H & E and metachromatic stains like Toluidine blue, Alcian blue, Aldehyde fuchsin and Giemsa. The number of mast cells was quantified. Statistical analysis was done and mast cell numbers were compared.

In both gingival and periapical inflammatory lesions, toludine blue showed more number of mast cells followed by giemsa. Giemsa stain showed statistical significance in differentiating both periapical and gingival lesions (p<0.05) in terms of mast cell count. Moderate inflammation (46.4%) was seen in a higher propotion of gingival inflammations whereas periapical inflammatory lesions revealed severe inflammation (53.3%). In both types of inflammatory lesions, higher staining intensity was shown by toludine blue followed by giemsa which was statistically significant.

Mast cell number is inversely proportional to inflammatory response in gingival inflammatory lesions and directly proportional to inflammatory response in periapical inflammatory lesions. Although, toludine blue is found to be a better stain, giemsa has equivalent properties as that of toludine blue.