[Histonet] Re: Toluidine Blue and H&E

[Robert Richmond]

Erin Martin asks: >>My pathologist would like to do a combined
toluidine blue and H&E. Has anyone ever done this? If so, would you
mind sharing your procedure? I am guessing that I would have to use
the toluidine blue after the eosin then air dry the slides since
alcohol would take the blue out, but I am not sure if it would react
with either the hematoxylin or the eosin.<<

What an interesting idea! I suppose we're talking about staining
Helicobacter in gastric biopsy specimens. I was one of the early users
of toluidine blue for Helicobacter, and I've more or less followed the
literature but have never found such a technique. As others have
suggested, I suppose the toluidine blue would come after the H & E.
Moving the slides rapidly through alcohols would probably keep the dye
from washing out. Most people would probably use Diff-Quik II (or a
generic equivalent) rather than preparing toluidine blue.

The only way to find out is to try it! I'd want you to have good
control sections to practice with, and I'd expect to work closely with
the histotechnologist to get the desired result. I hope somebody does
try this and report back to us all.

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Knoxville TN