EFFECT OF AQUEOUS ARECA NUT EXTRACT ON THE PERMEABILITY OF MUCOSA

The adverse effects associated with areca (betel) nut chewing, includi ng oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) and oral cancel; are well known. In t he etiology of these diseases, components of the nut have to penetrate the epithelial barrier to reach the connective tissue. Since human va ginal mucosa is similar to oral mucosa with respect to histology and p ermeability to water we decided to investigate the effects on permeabi lity of vaginal mucosa in the presence of areca nut extract. Specimens of fresh clinically healthy vaginal mucosa (n = 12) were taken from e xcised tissue obtained during vaginal hysterectomies. Seven biopsies f rom each specimen (n = 6) were mounted in flow-through diffusion cells (exposed area 0.039 cm(2)) and their permeability to (H2O)-H-3 determ ined in the presence of 1% aqueous baked areca nut extract using a con tinuous flow-through perfusion system. The six remaining specimens wer e used as controls. Specimens were examined histologically before and after permeability experiments. Mean steady state flux values (+/- s.e .m.) (8-20 h) of 1923 +/- 2 and 2262 +/- 9 cpm min(-1) cm(-2) were obt ained in the presence and absence (control) of areca nut extract, resp ectively. Although no statistically significant differences (Kruskal-W allis test) between these flux values were found, the presence of arec a nut extract lowered the mean mucosal permeability by about 20% when compared to the control specimens. We propose that the astringent acti on of the tannins present in areca nut extract alters the barrier prop erties of the epithelium, a factor which may play a role in the delete rious effects on oral mucosa.