Preliminary study of micronuclei levels in oral exfoliated cells from patients with periodontitis

Micronuclei (MN) are abnormal nuclear structures that arise in dividing cells due to chromosomal breakage or chromosome mis-segregation, and their evaluation in oral exfoliated cells may constitute a reliable and noninvasive, cancer biomarker method. Therefore, it is crucial to assess whether different aspects of oral health can induce micronuclear formation. Because chronic periodontal disease is a prevalent inflammatory condition that may lead to reactive oxygen species generation and DNA damage, the aim of this study was to characterize the frequency of micronuclei according to the periodontal status. For this purpose, we analyzed oral exfoliated cells of 30 patients matched by age and sex (15 control patients with healthy periodontum to mild periodontitis and 15 patients with moderate to severe periodontitis). Our results indicated a 2.3-fold increase in MN basal levels in patients with moderate to severe periodontitis compared to the control patients (P < 0.001), suggesting that the periodontal status may affect MN reference levels.