An Attempt to Find Alternative Stains for Routine Hematoxylin and Eosin

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Background Universally accepted stains for the routine histopathological examination are Hematoxylin and Eosin. There are even special stains that would specifically stain the individual tissue architecture such as stains for microorganisms nucleic acid stains lipid stains connective tissue stains etc. In certain conditions hematoxylin eosin and other special stains might not be readily available for histopathologic staining. Thus an attempt was made to find an alternative stain that is economic user friendly and readily available.Method The study included commonly available stains such as Mehendi stain Tobacco stain Textile dye Disclosing agent Sarasaparilla root extract Beta vulgaris Genus Vitis extract Xerox tonor washing dye Pure extracts of Vitis vinifera etc. Paraffin embedded well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma tissue block was freshly cut using a semi-automated tissue processing unit. The samples were taken from the ribbon sections and fixed on to the microscopic slides. The microscopic slides with the tissue samples were kept on the slide warmer to remove the impregnated wax and kept in xylene for clearing. After clearing staining of the microscopic slides was carried with the above mentioned individual stains.Results Among the selected stains few showed good microscopic diagnostic value and few stains were of poor diagnostic value. Conclusion Tissue specific stains are in demand for histopathological examination. Though hematoxylin and eosin is a gold standard stain the thirst and hunger for tissue specific stains among pathologists is high. Especially the stains that detect the cancerous cells or atypical cells at the early stage are more useful from the pathology point of view. Immediate diagnosis would help in faster treatment and better prognosis. The present study would open the door for further research on alternative stains and alternative staining methods.