A study of barr-body from buccal mucosa for determination of sex

In identifying an unknown person, the most important objective is to find out the individual's sex. If the external genitalia are normal then a mere external inspection can easily help in determining sex. However, difficulty in determination of sex arises in gonadal dysgenesis, in extremely decomposed or mutilated dead bodies and in case of skeletal remains. Sex of a person can be determined from physical morphology, bones, microscopic study of sex chromatin in cells, gonadal biopsy and hormonal study. The present work is based on the microscopic study of Barr-body (sex chromatin) in buccal mucosa of Manipuri subjects with an aim to determine the sex of an individual based on the presence of Barr-body (sex chromatin) in the epithelial cells of buccal mucosa, the sex incidence of Barr-body of Manipuri subjects, the percentage of Barr body positives cells in the buccal mucosa and also the correlation between the presence of Barr-body and menstrual cycle.