[Histonet] AFB Stain on Cytospin Preps

[deGuzman, Jose R]

Greg,

I'm not sure if anyone has responded to your question, the waxy coat of acid-fast bacilli is sensitive to xylene and alcohol not to acid. Carbol Fuchsin is soluble in acid alcohol but if the waxy coat of the bacteria is intact, it will hold the stain. What I've suggested before is a cyto-spin preparation of unfixed fluid avoiding any alcohol or xylene even for dehydration and clearing.

Hope this helps.

J


Good day colleagues,
We are occasionally being asked to do an acid-fast stain (Ziehl-Neelsen) on a alcohol-fixed cytospin preparation from a cytology fluid.

Typically in Cytology, if a specimen is very bloody, we will add acetic acid to lyse the red cells. Does anyone know if acetic acid would have any adverse affect on the stainability of AFB organisms if present?

Thank you,
Greg

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*Greg Dobbin*
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