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Figure 3 | Environmental Health

Figure 3

From: Evaluation of two commercial and three home-made fixatives for the substitution of formalin: a formaldehyde–free laboratory is possible

Figure 3

Histological sections of a case of Myeloma. Tissue fixed with Cell-Block, PAGA-T, PAGA-A, RECL2, Z7 and Formalin. Differences in tissue coarctation and nuclear details, as well as color affinity, are evident upon Haematoxylin- Eosin (H&E) and Giemsa (1stand 2 nd column) staining. Although formalin fixation shows less tissue shrinkage in comparison to alcoholic fixatives, along with a lower affinity to eosin, nuclear details are less well-preserved. In sections stained with Giemsa, Cell-Block, Formalin and Z7 are bluish in color and other fixatives tend to be pinkish. Giemsa is a pH-sensitive stain with a predominant blue hue with basic or neutral pH which turns to pink with a lower pH, as with RCL2 and PAGA that contain Acetic Acid at different concentrations. Nuclear details (as nucleoli) are sharper in formalin substitutes. Also the Golgi apparatus is more evident as paranuclear “hof”. Immunoperoxidase staining for lambda light chain (3rd column): strong positivity is present on all samples with some variation in cellular details and background. Immunostaining with automated procedure set for formalin-fixed tissues.

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