[Investigation of nucleolar organizer region activity in epithelial cells of hyperplastic endometrial carcinoma tissue].

Such characteristics of nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) as nucleolar and intra-nucleolar grain counts, NOR mean area, mean total NOR area in nucleus, nuclear area and nucleolus/nucleus ratio were identified using vaginal aspirate-smears from 34 patients with histologically verified diagnosis (adenocarcinoma--10, atypical hyperplasia (ATH)--10, glandular endometrial hyperplasia (GEH)--4); silver-staining and micro-imaging analyzer techniques were employed. Atypical hyperplasia and nucleolar count in nucleus progressively and significantly increased in the following sequence: proliferative phase--GEH--adenocarcinoma. Mean and total area of NORs showed a significant rise in ATH and adenocarcinoma. Those indices of endometrial cell proliferation and GEH were identical. Nuclear area and nucleolus/nucleus ratio offered most information for differentiating GEH, ATH and carcinoma. A highly reliable correlation was established between intra-nucleolar grain count and microscopically-assayed silver concentration, on the one hand, and NOR area, on the other.