Morphometric study

Area% of the stained collagen fibers around lymphatic follicles and in the subepithelial region in 10 randomly selected fields per group at × 40 magnification in Sirius red-stained sections. The results were expressed as mean area % of collagen/µmCD68 immunoexpressing appeared as a brown cytoplasmic reaction. The number of CD68 positive cells/ high power field was measured in ten fields per group using the same system and expressed as cell number per µm