[Histonet] Decalcified Bone Staining Problems

[Wait, Trevor Jordan]

Hey guys! I was curious if anyone could send me a link or maybe even just a source where I could see the difference between a properly/completely decalcified H&E stained bone tissue vs. an improper/incompletely stained decalcified specimen. This would be beneficial because I believe that the tissues that I am currently staining with H&E are not totally decalcifed, therefore there are sections in the bone tissue that are stained a bit more heavily than others...and this pattern of stains holds pretty consistently with the all of the sections that were taken from one specific bone block. In short, I would just love to see what a quality stained uniform H&E section looked like.  Here are several possible explanations as to why my slides are not staining uniformly:


- Perhaps the way I am letting the slides dry?

        - when the slides are completely done staining and clearing, I let them dry and perhaps that is something to do with it.

- I am not putting coverslips on the slides yet because I just want to get the staining protocol down first...perhaps if I put the coverslips on then that would help solve the problem?


Trevor Jordan Wait
University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio
Class of 2017 MD Candidate
Abilene Christian University Class of 2013 Graduate
B.S.  Biochemistry