Diana,

The result of smears for Wright /Giemsa Staining not fixed in methanol is swiss
cheese appearance due to lysing and improper staining due to lysis and the
moisture left in the smears.

You can get away with not fixing Fe slides because you are looking just for fe
deposits but not Wright/Giemsa where you are looking for cellular detail.

Rande Kline, HT (ASCP)
Technical Services
EM Science/BDH






"Goodwin, Diana" <DGoodwin@CHSNJ.org> on 03/20/2000 11:35:14 AM

To:   'Histonet' <HistoNet@Pathology.swmed.edu>
cc:    (bcc: Rande Kline/EMI/Merck)
Subject:  Fixation of BM smears for Wright/ Giemsa



Good Morning, Histonet!   Happy Spring 2000!

Our lab has always been accustomed to fixing bone marrow smears in
methanol prior to staining for Fe and with Wright -Giemsa.

We now have a new director who advocates air-drying only.

I have been unable to find a reference for this subject, so I defer to
the think-tank at Histonet.

Any takers?


Diana Goodwin,  HT
Trenton,  NJ