[Histonet] (no subject)

[Sheree Beam]

Greetings,

 

I received Masson's trichrome stains of arteries and adjacent muscle from a
histolab.  The first time I received them, the entire artery was blue and
the adjacent muscle was purple to sometimes red.  The smooth muscle in the
arteries were completely blue.  However the control tissue of kidney which
included a small artery stained perfectly.  I asked for the tissue to be
recut and try again with Masson's.  This time the smooth muscle in the
artery has some magenta, but in other areas the blue prevailed.  More
controls were run and all were perfect.  The tissues were fixed in 10%
neutral buffered formalin for 10 or 30 days as there were 2 groups.  We used
two different boxes of formalin.  After trim, the tissues were placed back
into formalin and sent to the histo lab.  There was no fixation in ethanol.

 

Are there any explanations out there?  Is there anything we can do?  I need
the trichromes for photomicrographs.  Would a different trichrome stain
potentially help?  All input would be appreciated.

 

Thank you,

 

Sheree

 

Sheree Beam, DVM, MS, ACVP, Diplomate

Veterinary Pathologist

Preclinical Pathology Consulting Service, LLC