Laurie Colbert  wondered, "Is Richard Allan a common denominator
with everyone who is having problems?????"
	My thoughts on this - I have used Richard-Allan hematoxylin, eosin,
clarifier, bluing, and cytology stains practically since their arrival in
the marketplace (late '70's - mid-eighties?).  The ONLY consistent,
reliable procedure I've NEVER had to "tweak" in the last 20 years has been
my H &E stain - as it is beautiful!  In fact, in 1990, when I was first
introduced to the gentleman (Jerry Fredenburg) who was responsible for the
development of these wonderful chemicals I immediately hugged him and said,
"Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!"  In fact, all of our area labs have used
these stains with great results.
	Now, in all fairness, I must add that I use real Xylenes for
clearing and graded ethanols for dehydration.  Have not been seen
consistent results with substitutes.
	And, as a final note, I remember thinking that the original
question that started this query had a processing procedure that went
straight from formalin to 100%alcohol.  Isn't this a little odd?  Doesn't
everyone use graded alcohols?
	Oh, well...I just didn't want techs, who've never used them, to get
the wrong impression about Richard-Allan stains.
	Linda


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Linda Jenkins, HT
Clemson University
Department of Bioengineering
864.656.5553
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