[Histonet] Re: Gram stain

[Tony Henwood (SCHN)]

I agree with Bob wholeheartedly as well as agree 100% and I am unanimous in that!

Regards 
Tony Henwood JP, MSc, BAppSc, GradDipSysAnalys, CT(ASC), FFSc(RCPA) 
Laboratory Manager & Senior Scientist 
Tel: 612 9845 3306 
Fax: 612 9845 3318 
the children's hospital at westmead
Cnr Hawkesbury Road and Hainsworth Street, Westmead
Locked Bag 4001, Westmead NSW 2145, AUSTRALIA 


-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Bob Richmond
Sent: Wednesday, 14 March 2012 2:45 AM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Re: Gram stain

Stacy Giroux (where?) asks: >>Our lab is currently transitioning from the Brown & Brenn gram stain due to no longer wanting to store picric acid due to its potential hazards. Our pathologists have requested a gram stain for paraffin embedded tissue that looks similar but does not use picric acid or ether. Does anyone have any suggestions on stains that could be used or gram stain kits that are available for purchase that are good?<<

I'd want to ask your pathologists: do you really need this stain? If you want to see or count bacteria, a simple Giemsa type stain (such as
Diff-Quik) will do the job. Tissue Gram stains are arduous to perform, and do not work well, particularly for staining Gram negatives. The Gram stain on smears is of course the workhorse of microbiology, but it does not work well on tissue sections.

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Knoxville TN

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