[Histonet] Iron leaching out during decal

[Gayle Callis]

Jeannie, 

This has been discussed on Histonet in the past, so do search also.  If you
are using a heavy duty iron positive control, i.e. liver with lots of iron,
you may confuse the issue.  We used to decalcify with formic acid or HCL
and were very careful not to overexpose the bone marrow to acid.  We
retained iron but not at the high level you see with a positive tissue
control, bone marrow cells containing iron tend to be subtle and fewer in
number, but iron is still there - you have to look carefully to find it
unless you have a case that shows high iron stores in cells.    

Do't use EDTA, it chelates iron! 

At 12:27 PM 8/18/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>Please help! I am working on my HTL Practical test and I am required to do
>a Prussian Blue iron stain on a 1.0 cm piece of bone. My problem is that
>everything that I use to decal my bone (so that it cuts nicely) leaches out
>all of the iron. HCL decal solutions were obviously too powerful (tried
>them anyways) so I used a milder selection that included acetic acid (after
>fixing w/ formaldehyde), and a combination of formic acid and formaldehyde
>(to fix and decal in the same step). I am leary to get Zenker's solution
>(which was recommended by Frieda Carson's Histology: A Self Instructional
>Text  Chloride to replace the mercury in Zenker's? Any suggestions would be
>greatly appreciated, I really need some help. Thank you!   Bethany J.
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Gayle Callis
MT,HT,HTL(ASCP)
Research Histopathology Supervisor
Veterinary Molecular Biology - Marsh Lab
Montana State University - Bozeman
S. 19th and Lincoln St
Bozeman MT 59717-3610

406 994-6367 (lab with voice mail)
406 994-4303 (FAX)

email: gcallis <@t> montana.edu