Mallory's trichrome stain

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Uterus of a rat stained with Mallory's stain. Uterus of a rat, Mallory stain.jpg
Uterus of a rat stained with Mallory's stain.

Mallory's trichrome stain also called Mallory's Triple Stain is a stain utilized in histology to aid in revealing different macromolecules that make up the cell. It uses the three stains: aniline blue, acid fuchsin, and orange G. As a result, this staining technique can reveal collagen, ordinary cytoplasm, and red blood cells. It is used in examining the collagen of connective tissue.

For tissues that are not directly acidic or basic, it can be difficult to use only one stain to reveal the necessary structures of interest. A combination of the three different stains in precise amounts applied in the correct order reveals the details selectively. This is the result of more than just electrostatic interactions of stain with the tissue and the stain not being washed out after each step. Collectively the stains complement one another. [1]

The staining technique was first published in 1900 by Frank Burr Mallory, then a histologist at Harvard University Medical School. [2] Many variants of the method exist to simplify or speed processing or to stain other materials. Mallory's and other polychrome stains developed in the early 20th century led to Papanicolaou stain and other popular polychrome staining methods. [3]

The primary application when the stain was introduced was differentiation of structures in connective tissue, and this remains its most common use. [3] Some work however has indicated the stain can highlight differential RNA synthesis. This has been used in identifying ectopic endometrial tissue. [4]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Gieson's stain</span>

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Acid fuchsin or fuchsine acid, (also called Acid Violet 19 and C.I. 42685) is an acidic magenta dye with the chemical formula C20H17N3Na2O9S3. It is a sodium sulfonate derivative of fuchsine. Acid fuchsin has wide use in histology, and is one of the dyes used in Masson's trichrome stain. This method is commonly used to stain cytoplasm and nuclei of tissue sections in the histology laboratory in order to distinguish muscle from collagen. The muscle stains red with the acid fuchsin, and the collagen is stained green or blue with Light Green SF yellowish or methyl blue. It can also be used to identify growing bacteria.

Lillie's trichrome is a combination of dyes used in histology.

Trichrome stains are staining methods in which three anionic dyes are used, in conjunction with either phosphomolybdic acid (PMA), phosphotungstic acid (PTA), or a mixture of these heteropolyacids. Probably the first trichrome method was that of Frank B Mallory, an American pathologist, first published in 1900. Unfortunately, none of Mallory's publications provide any explanation of the rationales of either his trichrome or his phosphotungstic acid-haematoxylin (PTAH) method. Nobody knows why Mallory introduced heteropolyacids into microtechnique.

Bouin solution, or Bouin's solution, is a compound fixative used in histology. It was invented by French biologist Pol Bouin and is composed of picric acid, acetic acid and formaldehyde in an aqueous solution. Bouin's fluid is especially useful for fixation of gastrointestinal tract biopsies because this fixative allows crisper and better nuclear staining than 10% neutral-buffered formalin. It is not a good fixative when tissue ultrastructure must be preserved for electron microscopy. However, it is a good fixative when tissue structure with a soft and delicate texture must be preserved. The acetic acid in this fixative lyses red blood cells and dissolves small iron and calcium deposits in tissue. A variant in which the acetic acid is replaced with formic acid can be used for both fixation of tissue and decalcification. The effects of the three chemicals in Bouin solution balance each other. Formalin causes cytoplasm to become basophilic but this effect is balanced by the effect of the picric acid. This results in excellent nuclear and cytoplasmic H&E staining. The tissue hardening effect of formalin is balanced by the soft tissue fixation of picric and acetic acids. The tissue swelling effect of acetic acid is balanced by the tissue shrinking effect of picric acid.

Verhoeff's stain, also known as Verhoeff's elastic stain (VEG) or Verhoeff–Van Gieson stain (VVG), is a staining protocol used in histology, developed by American ophthalmic surgeon and pathologist Frederick Herman Verhoeff (1874–1968) in 1908. The formulation is used to demonstrate normal or pathologic elastic fibers.

References

  1. Ross, Michael H. (2011). Histology: A Text and Atlas . Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. pp.  5–6. ISBN   978-0-7817-7200-6.
  2. Mallory, F.B. (1900). "A Contribution to Staining Methods". Journal of Experimental Medicine. 5 (1): 15–20. doi:10.1084/jem.5.1.15. PMC   2117995 . PMID   19866932.
  3. 1 2 Boon, Mathilde E.; Drijver, Johanna S. (1986). Routine Cytological Staining Techniques: Theoretical Background and Practice. Elsevier.
  4. Wołuń-Cholewa, Maria; Szymanowski, Krzysztof; Andrusiewicz, Mirosław; Szczerba, Anna; Warchoł, Jerzy B. (2010). "Trichrome Mallory's stain may indicate differential rates of RNA synthesis in eutopic and ectopic endometrium". Folia Histochemica et Cytobiologica. 48 (1): 148–152. doi: 10.2478/v10042-008-0106-4 . PMID   20529831.