A comparative study to evaluate liquid dish washing soap as an alternative to xylene and alcohol in deparaffinization and hematoxylin and eosin staining

Pinki Pandey; Alok Dixit; Aparna Tanwar; Anuradha Sharma; Sanjeev Mittal

doi:10.4103/0974-2727.141504

Journal of Laboratory Physicians, Table of Contents

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · J Lab Physicians 2014; 6(02): 084-090
DOI: 10.4103/0974-2727.141504

Original Article

A comparative study to evaluate liquid dish washing soap as an alternative to xylene and alcohol in deparaffinization and hematoxylin and eosin staining

Authors

Pinki Pandey

Department of Pathology, UP Rural Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Saifai, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India
Alok Dixit

Department of Pharmacology, UP Rural Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Saifai, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India
Aparna Tanwar

Department of Pathology, Maharishi Markandeshwar Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Sultanpur, Kumarhatti, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India
Anuradha Sharma

Department of Pathology, M M Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, M M University, Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India
Sanjeev Mittal

Department of Pathology, M M Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, M M University, Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India

Abstract

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ABSTRACT

Introduction: Our study presents a new deparaffinizing and hematoxylin and eosin (H and E) staining method that involves the use of easily available, nontoxic and eco-friendly liquid diluted dish washing soap (DWS) by completely eliminating expensive and hazardous xylene and alcohol from deparaffinizing and rehydration prior to staining, staining and from dehydration prior to mounting. The aim was to evaluate and compare the quality of liquid DWS treated xylene and alcohol free (XAF) sections with that of the conventional H and E sections.

Materials and Methods: A total of 100 paraffin embedded tissue blocks from different tissues were included. From each tissue block, one section was stained with conventional H and E (normal sections) and the other with XAF H and E (soapy sections) staining method. Slides were scored using five parameters: Nuclear, cytoplasmic, clarity, uniformity, and crispness of staining. Z-test was used for statistical analysis.

Results: Soapy sections scored better for cytoplasmic (90%) and crisp staining (95%) with a statistically significant difference. Whereas for uniformity of staining, normal sections (88%) scored over soapy sections (72%) (Z = 2.82, P < 0.05). For nuclear (90%) and clarity of staining (90%) total scored favored soapy sections, but the difference was not statistically significant. About 84% normal sections stained adequately for diagnosis when compared with 86% in soapy sections (Z = 0.396, P > 0.05).

Conclusion: Liquid DWS is a safe and efficient alternative to xylene and alcohol in deparaffinization and routine H and E staining procedure. We are documenting this project that can be used as a model for other histology laboratories.

Keywords

Alcohol - deparaffinization - eosin - hematoxylin - liquid dish washing soap - xylene-free staining

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References

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