I used Saffran du Gatinais in the HPS (Hematoxylin-Phloxine-Saffron) stain, which
was then my routine stain (as the H&E is today) some 35 years ago.  It is a
lovely trichrome stain and relatively easy to do do.  Anyway, here is my recipe
to make up Saffran du Gatinais:

Two or three pinches of dried Spanish saffron
1000 ml of absolute alcohol

Add the saffron to 500 ml of absolute alcohol and let ripen in a 60 degree
Celsius oven for 48 hours.  Pour off the alcohol and store in a tightly closed
dark bottle.  Add the remaining 500 ml of alcohol to the saffron and let ripen
again for 48 hours in a 60 degree oven.  Add to the first batch obtained.  Store
in a tightly closed dark bottle and keep away from moisture.

This solution is hydrophobic so when using it in any stain, the slides must be
completely dehydrated in alcohol prior to immersion in this solution (about 5 -
10 minutes).  They must also be differentiated in absolute alcohols before
clearing through xylenes.

Hermina






"J. A. Kiernan" wrote:

> Bernard Ian R SSgt 59 CRES/MSROP wrote:
> >
> > Hey another question. Cell Point does not have Safran du Gatinais chemical.
> > Does anyone no where I can get some?
>
> This was the name of the saffron (a yellow dye obtained
> from crocus stigmas) used by P.J.Masson in his trichrome
> technique (now usually done with a different set of
> dyes), and it's also the yellow collagen stain in
> Movat's 1955 "pentachrome" procedure.
>
> A fairly recent paper recommends using saffron
> bought from a health food store - Garvey, W (1991)
> J. Histotechnol. 14: 163-165. It might be necessary
> to fiddle with the concentration, because it's
> sold for use as a food colorant, not for labs.
>
> --
> -------------------------
> 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/

--
Hermina M. Borgerink, BA, HTL(ASCP)HT, IHQ
Department of Pathology
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Winston-Salem, N.C. 27157
PH (336) 716-1538
Fax (336) 716-1515