Distinguishiong between penile and buccal cells using different staining techniques
Rashid Lutalo
Teesside University, UK
: Forensic Toxicol Pharmacol 2015, 4:4
Abstract
T he identification of epithelial cells in sexual offenses has faced difficult times over the past two decades in forensic science. For this reason there has been a demand for a method that can conclusively distinguish between epithelial cells, since they have been known to be morphologically similar in their structure according to previous research. This study was aimed to develop a technique using histological staining methods to try to and distinguish between penile and buccal cells from a sexually assaulted victim perspective. 400 samples were collected from male and females and stored according to the Human Tissue Act (2003). The first 20 samples, each cell type was extracted using water, centrifuged then pelleted on to microscopic slides. The slides were then placed onto hotplate at 50 o C for 2 minutes to dry and left overnight to cool. Each staining method, Lugol’s Iodine, Papanicolaou (Pap) and Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) stain was applied to three slides for buccal and penile cells to observe the cells under a high power microscope (400x). Separate 20 samples were smeared onto slides and then stained using the staining procedures. Extracted cells with water did not produce any positive stained cells after staining but smeared cells showed positive stained cells with a total of 515 cells. Lugol’s Iodine did not indicate positive stained penile cells but 13 positive stained buccal cells were found. Pap stain had 18 positive stained buccal cells with no positive stained penile cells. H&E had 120 positive stained buccal cells and negative for penile cells. When the two cells were combined, Pap stain showed presence of 71 unknown positive stained cells which could be indication of penile cells and 108 positive stained buccal cells. Cells combined with H&E stain had 185 buccal cells but did not detect any penile cells. These results suggested that Pap stain was a successful histological staining method for distinguishing between penile and buccal cells and could potentially be used in the near future for sexual offenses in forensic casework.
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