The Use of Modified Masson’s Trichrome Stain to Recognize the Stratum Corneum in the Epidermis of the Skin and Measure It

Abstract

Many types of research have stained the skin to determine its layers, especially the epidermis because it is an important and large body barrier against foreign materials. The most popular method was the routine stain that gives the tissues two colors depending on the acidophilic and basophilic to eosin and hematoxylin when the epidermis stain the trichrome stain the layers appear in two colors: pink color in the cytoplasm of the stratum germanitivium and the stratum spinusium and the stratum corneum, the nuclear stain with violet to gray color, in this paper we attempt to modify the Masson’s trichrome to stain the stratum corneum in a different color to recognize it and measure it by using Bouin’s solution with Carnoy’s solution as fixative material. The result of this modification was the stratum corneum appeared in yellow color and the other layers stayed in the same color as the general trichrome method and compared it with routine stain and measured the dead layer in the three methods. This research concludes indicates that the modified method can identify dead layers of the epidermis and becomes more accurate when measured with modern measurements.