The hematoxylin-phloxine-saffron (HPS) stain is a trichrome stain that came into use as a "general oversight" stain by surgical pathologists in the 1930's, notably at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. The Goldner-Foot trichrome stain was also used for this purpose, on the other side of Central Park at Cornell Medical Center, probably abandoned after Chandler Foot's retirement in 1948.
I actually saw the HPS stain in use at Columbia-Presbyterian around 1966, in place of H & E. I understand that it is still in very limited use in a few laboratories today. Saffron (a natural product, the stigmas of the flowers of Crocus sativus) is extremely expensive - currently $66 for a quarter ounce (about 7 grams) at Penzeys.com. It's used histologically as an alcoholic extract (supposedly best done with a reflux condenser) and can actually be purchased in that form. You can find the HPS staining procedure in older books, such as the AFIP manual. As a working surgical pathologist, I find this ancient technique intriguing but totally impractical in today's world. It's stretching it to get a trichrome stain for your liver biopsies these days. Bob Richmond Samurai Pathologist Knoxville TN _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet