[Histonet] Re: hematoxylin-eosin saffron

[Robert Richmond]

The hematoxylin-phloxine-saffron (HPS) stain is a trichrome stain that
came into use as a "general oversight" stain by surgical pathologists
in the 1930's, notably at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York
City. The Goldner-Foot trichrome stain was also used for this purpose,
on the other side of Central Park at Cornell Medical Center, probably
abandoned after Chandler Foot's retirement in 1948.

I actually saw the HPS stain in use at Columbia-Presbyterian around
1966, in place of H & E. I understand that it is still in very limited
use in a few laboratories today.

Saffron (a natural product, the stigmas of the flowers of Crocus
sativus) is extremely expensive - currently $66 for a quarter ounce
(about 7 grams) at Penzeys.com. It's used histologically as an
alcoholic extract (supposedly best done with a reflux condenser) and
can actually be purchased in that form.

You can find the HPS staining procedure in older books, such as the AFIP manual.

As a working surgical pathologist, I find this ancient technique
intriguing but totally impractical in today's world. It's stretching
it to get a trichrome stain for your liver biopsies these days.

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Knoxville TN