Nasal cytology: description of a hyperchromatic supranuclear stria as a possible marker for the anatomical and functional integrity of the ciliated cell

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to describe a particular intracellular hyperchromatic formation located over the nucleus of normal nasal ciliated cells. This finding, never described in literature, very rarely occurs in pathological conditions.

Methods: A nasal cytological test and mucociliary transport test were performed in a group of 24 subjects with rhinologic diseases and in a control group of 10 healthy subjects.

Results: The "hyperchromatic supranuclear stria" (SNS) was observed in a high percentage of normal cells (90.3%); SNS was present in very few pathological subjects (in only 6.26% of pathologic cells).

Conclusion: We interpreted SNS as a specific marker for the anatomic and functional integrity of the ciliated cell. Therefore, the absence of SNS is considered an abnormal finding in the nasal mucosa and therefore could be useful as a "prognostic sign" of the disorders themselves and as an indication of the "therapeutic efficacy" of pharmacologic treatments, both topical and systemic.