Nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) in dysplastic and neoplastic epithelial lesions of the conjunctiva.

Using a silver staining technique (AgNOR technique), we have investigated the nucleolar organizer-associated proteins (NORs) in formalin-fixed paraffin embedded conjunctival specimens of 15 intraepithelial squamous carcinomas, 10 hyperplastic-dysplastic samples and 10 control epithelial fragments; the mean number of intranuclear black dots was determined for each case. A significant difference in the mean number of NORs was found when intraepithelial squamous carcinomas were compared with hyperplastic-dysplastic lesions (P less than 0.001); in addition, normal control conjunctiva and hyperplastic-dysplastic lesions were also discernible (P less than 0.05).