Isolation of DNA from archival Papanicolaou stained cytological smears using a simple salting-out procedure

DNA from archival Papanicolaou stained and unstained cytological smears was successfully isolated using a simple, rapid and inexpensive salting-out procedure. The quality of DNA was controlled by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of segments of the human beta-globin, human beta-actin and human papillomavirus L1 genes. Only negligible differences in amplification efficiency were observed between DNA isolated from stained and unstained smears. The salting-out procedure is a more rapid method for the isolation of DNA than phenol-chloroform extraction and may be used in instances where fresh or cryopreserved clinical specimens are not available.