Pap Stain the Science Behind Your Pap Smear
Papanicolaou stain (also Papanicolaou’s stain and Pap stain) is a polychromatic or multi-coloured cytological staining technique developed by George Papanicolaou in 1942.
Have you ever wondered how your Pap smear or Pap test works?
A Pap smear, or Pap test, is a screening procedure for cervical cancer. It tests for the presence of precancerous or cancerous cells on your cervix. The cervix is the opening of the uterus.
During the routine procedure, cells from your cervix are gently scraped away and examined for abnormal growth. The cells collected by the healthcare professional are spread or smeared onto a glass microscope slide. The slide is stained with a Papanicolaou stain or Pap stain. The Pap stain is a polychromatic or multi-coloured stain that uses multiple dyes to differentially stain various components of the cells. This makes it easier for the laboratory to compare the cells.
The stained cells are examined to see if there are any abnormal cells present. If your results are normal or negative, that means that no abnormal cells were identified. If the test results are abnormal, this doesn’t mean you have cancer. It simply means that there are abnormal cells on your cervix, that requires further investigation.
What is Papanicolaou Staining (Pap stain)?
The Papanicolaou stain is one of the most widely used stains in cytology. It aids pathologists in making a diagnosis.
Pap staining is usually used in cytopathology in which loose cells are examined, but the stain can also be used on tissue slices. Pap staining differentiates the cells in smear preparations. A smear preparation is when test samples are spread or smeared onto a glass microscope slide from various bodily secretions and needle biopsies.
Test samples include gynaecological specimens (Pap smears), sputum, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, abdominal fluid, pleural fluid, synovial fluid, seminal fluid, fine needle aspirations, tumour biopsies, or other materials containing loose cells.
The objectives of the Pap stain are:
- To define the cell nuclear to aid in the identification of nuclear abnormalities of cancer cells.
- To stain the cytoplasm and make it transparent for visualization.
- To differentiate and identify certain cell types such as acidophils and basophils.
