[Histonet] Hematoxylin ... STILL!!

[Amos Brooks]

Peggy,
   Thanks for the advise. I'll look into these. I've avoided them in the
past because they looked rather difficult to make up, especially trying to
get a hold of some paraldehyde. It's good to know there's a substitute since
I couldn't find anyone that would even sell it.

Amos


Message: 11
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:08:32 -0400
From: "Lee & Peggy Wenk" <lpwenk <@t> sbcglobal.net>
Subject: RE: [Histonet] Hematoxylin ... STILL!!
To: "'Amos Brooks'" <amosbrooks <@t> gmail.com>,
       <histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Message-ID: <002001c908aa$974ae420$0202a8c0 <@t> HPPav2>
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="US-ASCII"

If the Weigert is for a Trichrome - skip it. The important part is muscle
red, collagen blue or green. On most trichromes, the black of Weigert
doesn't stick around anyway, and the nuclei are end up red. If you don't
tell them, they would probably never notice the lack of Weigert in a
trichrome.

In place of VVG, how about an aldehyde fuchsin (using acetaldehyde instead
of paraldehyde if making your own), or the resorcin fuchsin stain (usually
available in kit form if you want it that way). Or the Orcein stain, also
known as Pinkus. All of these stain fine and coarse elastin, while VVG only
stains coarse elastin, so the pathologists just have to get used to seeing
MORE elastin than they are used to, and that the elastin will be violet,
blue/black or brown, not black. But hey, they have stained elastin.

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