Dear rzumbo and John Kiernan,

In the manual of the Special Stain's Laboratory of the Department of
Pathology and Lab. Med. 2000, pp 192-204 there is a comprehensive list of
the shelf life of many chemical and dye solutions.  These are minimum shelf
lives; some of the solutions can be used for longer time periods.  Due to
the increasing demands on laboratory personel to meet standards we feel it
is appropriate to list the minmum shelf life of solutions rather than the
maximum.  John Kiernan stated that some solutions are stable forever, having
worked with staining solutions for over 40 years I can not agree with this
statment.

The above mentioned manual can be purchased by sending a PO or check to:
Sandy Piampiano
University of Rochester Medical Center
Department of Pathology, Box 626
Rochester, NY 14642

The cost for the manual is $34.50 which includes postage and handling.

Charles Churukian, HT HTL (ASCP)



On Mon, 11 Sep 2000, rzumbo wrote:

> Does anyone know where I can get a comprehensive list of the
> shelf life of staining solutions.

  Churukian, C.J. Manual of the Special Stains Laboratory.
    Rochester, NY: Dept of Pathol & Lab Med. 1997, pp 192-204.

  This may not be the most recent edition. The book can be ordered
  through the Univ of Rochester Pathology Dept's web site. Many
  of the shelf-lives in this list seem to me to be unduly short,
  with times like 6 months for solutions that in reality are stable
  for ever.

 John A. Kiernan,
 Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology,
 The University of Western Ontario,
 LONDON,  Canada  N6A 5C1