[Histonet] What is Hollande's fixative?

[Susan Owens]

A few weeks ago I posted to Histonet and mentioned Hollande's fixative. As a
result I  rec'd a couple of private posts asking what was Hollande's
fixative, they had never heard of it. So below I give you the formula for
Hollande's and a quote from Freida Carson's book "Histotechnology A
Self-Instructional Text".

HOLLANDE'S SOLUTION/FIXATIVE

Copper acetate...........................  25. gms
Picric acid...................................  40. gms
Formaldehyde,37% to 40%..........   100. mls
Acetic acid..................................   15. mls
Distilled water.............................   1,000. mls

QUOTE: "This modification of Bouin's solutions is stable and will decalcify
small specimens of done. It is becoming widely used as a fixative for biopsy
specimens of the gastrointestinal tract. Hollande's-fixed tissue can be
stained successfully with most special stains. The cupric acetate present in
the solution stabilizes red blood cell membranes and the granules of
eosinophils and endocrine cells, so that less lysis occurs than with Bouins
solution.
        The fixative must be washed out before the specimen is placed in a
phosphate-buffered formalin solution on the tissue processor; salts present
in the solution will form an insoluble phosphate precipitate." end quote

We buy ours from Stat Lab in prefilled bx containers.
Hope this answers those questions and I hope Ms.Carson doesn't mine the
quote.

Susan

Susan Owens-TX
ohenry <@t> dfw.net
fax: 817-548-9876

"A bad day at the dog show is better then a good day at work!"