[Histonet] Problem with mucicarmine stain

[lpwenk <@t> sbcglobal.net]

1. CONTROL:
Not all GI have lots of mucin in the goblet cells. It can vary from patient
to patient. The goblet cells may have "extruded" some of the mucin recently,
so there might not be as much, so the goblet cells stain paler. Try a
control from a different patient. There may be more mucin in the goblet
cells from another patient. Small or large intestine (not autolyzed) also
make good controls.

2. COUNTERSTAIN:
Counterstaining with metanil yellow or tartrazine can mask minimal deposits,
or reduce the contrast between the pink goblet cells and the background. How
about counterstaining with just a 30 second aluminum hematoxylin, such as
Gill or Mayer? Easier to see minimal deposits. That's how our pathologists
like us to do the stain.

Peggy A. Wenk, HTL(ASCP)SLS
William Beaumont Hospital
Royal Oak, MI 48073

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chung, Luong" <lchung <@t> ppmh.org>
To: "Histonet (E-mail)" <histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 2:04 PM
Subject: [Histonet] Problem with mucicarmine stain


All,

When we do mucicarmine (Richar/Allen pre-made) according to our protocol
with dilution of one to four.  We counterstain with tretrazine.
We use appendix as a control and the stain turn out to be very pale.  Is
there any remedy for this?
It used to work very well, but not lately.

Anne

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