[Histonet] Re: Eosin, phloxine, and OG?

[RSRICHMOND <@t> aol.com]

A reader identified only as Deb asks:
>>is anyone familiar with an eosin/phloxine that mixes into it some OG(for H+E staining? The conversation came up recently to "amp" the three shades of red in H+E staining. It was the first time I'd ever heard of adding Orange G into eosin/phloxine solution. Are there any labs doing this?<<

Such mixtures were in occasional use in the 1960's, and at least one was commercially available from a company in Texas. I've had only minimal experience with them and didn't find them greatly helpful in surgical pathology, but I'm not sure I ever saw one done by a histotech who was willing to look at a slide under the microscope.

Trichrome stains were actually used by some surgical pathologists a long time ago as their routine stain, and I think the very beautiful hematoxylin-phloxin-saffron stain may still be in use as a routine stain in a few labs. In the 1930's Chandler Foot at New York Hospital (Cornell Medical Center) used a green trichrome as a routine stain. A few of his slides survived in old teaching collections there in 1968.

Bob Richmond
Knoxville TN and Gastonia NC