[Histonet] Re: wright-giemsa stain on tissue

[rsrichmond <@t> aol.com]

Dina (not otherwise identified): asks:
 
>>Has anyone ever heard of staining wright-giemsa stain on paraffin embedded tissue (rat bone)?  I've stained in the past blood smears and bone marrow smears. - Just wondering if anyone out there in histoland has ever done so.  I checked out Histonet archives and did not find any results of paraffin processed tissue stained with Wright-Giemsa.<<
 
Grumpy old pathologist time. Romanovsky type stains (Wright, Giemsa, what have you) are very useful with bone marrow sections, including decalcified material, but the necessary fixation is no longer practical. Tissue must be fixed with mercury and chromium (Zenker's or Helly's fixatives). The Wolbach Giemsa technique (actually developed for looking at rickettsiae - it's in the old AFIP manual) then prescribes staining in three or four changes of stain, one of them overnight, followed by differentiation in 10% colophonium rosin (abietic acid) in alcohol, using a microscope. I last saw such a stain in 1968, when I was a resident at Cornell Medical Center (can't remember what it's called this week) in New York City.
 
Grump.
 
Bob Richmond
Gastonia NC