Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 09:30:41 +0000 (GMT0BST)
From: RUSS ALLISON <Allison@Cardiff.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Trichrome staining.
To: "J. A. Kiernan" <jkiernan@uwo.ca>
Cc: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu

I have a feeling that Lendrum was involved in using celestine blue /
haemalum  sequence, but, like you, have been unable to reference it.
Unfortunately, Bill Slidders, who worked with Lendrum more latterly,
has now retired and is not very well, I understand.
As an old friend, I might otherwise been able to call him.

Date sent:              Thu, 30 Jan 2003 00:33:18 -0500
From:                   "J. A. Kiernan" <jkiernan@uwo.ca>
Subject:                Re: Trichrome staining.
To:                     Tony Henwood <AnthonyH@chw.edu.au>
Copies to:              'Ian Montgomery' <ian.montgomery@bio.gla.ac.uk>,
        histonet@pathology.swmed.edu

Tony raises an interesting point. I haven't been able
to find the original publication of iron-celestine
blue followed by haemalum, which has been popular
for many years in the English-speaking world outside
North America. There are plenty of published references
but all the ones I've seen cite secondary sources.

Even the superb 796-page fifth edition of "The
Theory and Practice of Histological Techniques"
(Bancroft & Gamble, 2002) gives a procedure with
no references or even speculation about how the
method works. There are plenty of old papers about
iron-celestine blue B alone as a nuclear stain. Why
is it advantageous to follow it up with a haemalum?
--
-------------------------
John A. Kiernan
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
The University of Western Ontario
London,   Canada   N6A 5C1
   kiernan@uwo.ca
   http://publish.uwo.ca/~jkiernan/
_________________________________________
Tony Henwood:
> Remember that Celestine Blue is made up in 5% iron alum (ferric ammonium sulphate). So is its stability, in the face of the trichrome
> acidic stains, due to an iron mordant rather than the celestine blue dye itself. ?very much like an Iron Haematoxylin stain like
> Weigert's!!
> 
> I like  the Celestine blue/Haematoxylin sequence as well.
> 
> Just a thought!!
> 
>
> Tony Henwood JP, BappSc, GradDipSysAnalys, CT(ASC)
> Laboratory Manager
> The Children's Hospital at  Westmead,
> Locked Bag 4001, Westmead, 2145, AUSTRALIA.
>     -----Original Message-----
>     From: Ian Montgomery [mailto:ian.montgomery@bio.gla.ac.uk]
>     Sent: Thursday, 30 January 2003 1:59
>     To: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
>     Subject: Trichrome staining.

Ian Montgomery:
>     Although a well executed Weigert is superb for a Masson I still stand by my
>     Celestine blue/Haematoxylin sequence. Over the years I've used it repeatedly and always
>     get beautiful staining. If like me your in the process of staining ~500 slides with a Masson
>     then the ease and reproducibility of the Celestine blue/Haematoxylin sequence has a lot to
>     commend it.
>     Ian.
>
>     Dr. Ian Montgomery,
>     Histotechnology,
>     Graham Kerr Building,
>     Institute of Biomedical & Life Sciences,
>     University of Glasgow,
_______________________________________________________________
Russ Allison,
Dental School
Cardiff
Wales