Hi All!

I am very new to the field of histology and need some help finding an 
appropriate stain for ethylmethacrylate embedded bone with a metal implant. 



The specimen we have is already embedded (unfotunately not very well, it 
has lots of bubbles) and ~ 3mm thick.  I have been hand grinding all of my 
practice specimens to less than 100 microns and acid etching them with 1% 
formic acid before staining.

We would ideally like to be able to stain for fibrous tissue/granuloma and 
be able to see polyethylene particles under polarized light.  So far we 
have tried H and E, but only the bone stains and not the fibrous tissue. 
 Is this because the specimens are embedded or because the formic acid we 
have is really old?  Or some other reason?

If anyone has any experience with plastic embedded bones, your help would 
be greatly appreciated.  Ideally we would like something simple and 
relatively inexpensive.  Thanks in advance!

Serena Leung

Anderson Orthopaedic Research Institute
Alexandria, VA
703-619-4414
SLeung@aori.org