[Histonet] Re: Xylene Substitute

[Robert Richmond]

Sheila Hass at Micro Path Laboratories [where?} asks: >>Could someone
recommend a xylene substitute and mounting media to use for staining
and coverslipping (no vendors please)? I am considering processing
without xylene, and would like to discontinue it everywhere if
possible.<<

We've discussed this topic a number of times before - see the archives
for quite a lot of information. Basically there are two classes of
alternative solvents, limonene and aliphatic hydrocarbons. Aliphatics
go by brand name, are not equivalent, and should not be mixed.
Aliphatics, like xylene, can be about 85% recovered by distillation.

As far as I know, all resin mounting media contain aromatics (xylene,
toluene, or benzene) - no practical work-around for that - so you'll
still need a hood for coverslipping.

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Knoxville TN