[Histonet] Alternatives to Cytospin?

[JR R]

I will be collecting bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from mice and want to do do a diff-quick stain on the fluid to characterize the leukocyte population.

My colleagues usually use a cytospin to concentrate cells onto a slide but I'll be at a lab that doesn't have the equipment so I'm looking for alternatives.

Could I just put a drop of the BALF onto a charged slide and air dry it?  Or treat the BALF like a blood smear?

Alternatively, could I fix the cells in...ethanol maybe and then cytospin them the next day when I get back to my lab?

Any ideas will be much appreciated.

Jerry Ricks
Research Scientist
University of Washington
Department of Pathology