[Histonet] Re: linear stainer issues

[Johnson, Teri]

Mary,

Do you have the stainer set to do dipping up and down when it is put in
solution?  If I recall correctly with the Hacker stainer, there is a
switch for agitation next to the power switch. I think using agitation
gives a more even stain.

We used 3 buckets of hematoxylin stain (hemalum) in order to have proper
timing in our stain solution (~1.5 minutes/station).  That also gave us
more consistency than using only 1 bucket for a longer period of time.
Make sure you have a bucket of DI water prior to the hematoxylin.  That
helps keep some of the tap water additives from messing up your
hematoxylin stain solution.

We successfully used the Richard Allen stains and the Shandon Instant
Hematoxylin stain with our linear stainer.  Which stain you use mostly
depends on what color the pathologists are accustomed to seeing, and
whether they are bothered by intestinal mucins tinting blue.

Make sure you use an acetic acid differentiator rather than a
hydrochloric acid differentiator on the unit.  You can dip quickly
enough when hand staining that hydrochloric acid alcohol decolorizes
more evenly and is stopped more quickly in running water than what you
can achieve on the linear stainer.  Richard Allen (and perhaps others?)
have commercial products that have acetic acid in alcohol and acetic
acid in water that can help provide some measure of
"differentiation"...it does not extract the stain like the hydrochloric
acid alcohol solutions do.

That's all I can think of at the moment.  I hope this helps.

Best wishes,

Teri Johnson, HT(ASCP)QIHC
Managing Director Histology Facility
Stowers Institute for Medical Research
1000 E. 50th St.
Kansas City, MO 64133