Cytological evaluation of the nasal mucosa is one of the methods used in the diagnosis of upper respiratory diseases. Cytological examination of the nasal mucosa in very young children have sporadically been performed (1, 2). In our investigations only the number of migratory and squamous cells in cytograms of healthy infants was evaluated. The children of 1 to 7 days old were examined in maternity units, before leaving hospitals.

The evaluation was performed in 4 hospitals in 3 towns (Warszawa, Częstochowa, Bielsko-Biała) in Poland. They were carried out according to „GCP” rules, after receiving a consent from the Ethical Comity at warsaw Medical Academy. Cytograms of 105 infants age 1-7 days (median 3) of both sexes (49 boys and 56 girls) were evaluated. All the infants were born naturally, on time and were healthy, according to the opinion of physicians. The course of pregnancies and birth-giving were considered as normal. There were no history of allergic diseases in the families in each case. Special questionnaires concerning the family history of allergic symptoms from respiratory and alimentary systems and the skin were filled by the mothers of investigated babies.

Cytological evaluation in the infants was performed by the use of exfoliation method described elsewhere (3).

Cytograms of the infants characteristically were lacking goblet cells. 12.6% of goblet cells was found in only one out of 105 children on the fifth day of the life. In the evaluation of the cytograms the two main types were distinguished; with prevalent columnar cells. There were 38 out of 105 i.e. 36,19% of cytograms with over 50% of neutrophils, and 44 out of 105 i.e. 41,9% of these with over 50% of columnar cells. Columnar cells in the infants are characteristically longitudinal with long cilia. There were no damaged cells in cytograms, like for instance single nuclei, which are present in adults and older children. In 8 out of 105 infants i.e. in 7.6% eosinophils were present in the cytograms (Table 1). In 4 cases the percentage of these cells was significant.

The first cytological evaluation of the nasal mucosa in the infants performed by Matheson et al. (1) concentrated on numbers of eosinophils and showed their presence in 30% of the subjects. Cytological examination of nasal smears has been surrendered in children below 6 months old as a diagnostic method, because of these results. Further study by Cohen et al. Has rectified this opinion showing the lack of eosinophils in 87% of the cytograms of healthy infants and in the remaining 13% they occured only sporadically (2). In our study a significant neutrophilia was found in 36% of the infants. Eosinophils were present in 7.6% (8/105) of the investigated infants, and a significant number of these cells was found in only 3.8% (4/105) of the cytograms. In 4 of the babies such high eosinophilia may have a pathologic background. All the mothers of investigated children gave negative answers when asked about a possibility of allergic diseases in the family history.

Occurrence of allergic diseases of respiratory system is on the which brings about the interest in prophylactics of these diseases in the early childhood. In the etiology of allergic diseases increasingly more attention is paid to the period around the birth. There are some proofs that the initial supersensitivity of the lymphatic system to allergens may occur in the final stage of the prenatal period (4). Cytological evaluation of smears of the nasal mucosa as a completely non-invasive and always viable, can be a very useful method of examination of the infants from the group with a risk of respiratory disorders, including allergic ones.