Determination of Genetic Sex by the Vaginal Smear

Much interest has been devoted lately to the determination of genetic sex by studying the cell nuclei in skin biopsy specimens. This has proved a very useful clinical procedure in cases of hermaphrodism and “ovarian agenesis” (1–5). During the routine examination of vaginal smears stained by the Papanicolaou technique, it was observed by us that in many instances the sex chromatin could be distinguished remarkably well in the nuclei of the vaginal epithelial cells, especially if these were clear and vesicular and showed a finely granular chromatin meshwork.