Nuclear DNA content of normal, neoplastic and "wart-affected" cervical biopsies

Cellular imprints from 30 colposcopic biopsies were analyzed for their intranuclear DNA content using Feulgen staining and microspectrophotometry. Biopsies from ten areas of normal epithelium were compared with those from ten cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CIN) and ten noncondylomatous warty atypias (NCWA). The normal biopsy prints showed an expected diploid-tetraploid stem cell line. Warty atypias and CIN could be distinguished by their aneuploid Feulgen-stained cells and the polypoid densitometry pattern of the warty atypias. The significance of these findings in relation to cervical neoplasia is discussed.