[Histonet] plastic section gram stain

[Lauren Sweeney]

Hello histonet world,

My pathologist just gave me a slide with a section on it that is intended for electron microscopy. Has if anyone ever done a Brown and Hopps special on a section embedded in Epon/Araldite?  She told me that her colleague has had the sections stained successfully with T-Blue on a hot plate before. But gram stains are a bit more complicated than a T-Blue! I can heat the staining components (i.e. crystal violet, safranin o, and iodine) but there are removal steps that require use of acetone, formaldehyde, acetic acid, and picric acid, and I am not sure how those reagents will work with the plastic. Any help or experience to share would be wonderful.

Thanks,
Lauren