Many years ago asbestos fibers were demonstrated in hypochlorite digested tissues. The remaining material was filtered through Milllipore filter, washed and the fibers observed with polarized light. The Perl's method will stain no the asbestos fibers (that cannot be stained) but a reactive capsule the tissues secrete around the fiber, so it is an indirect method based in: if there is a tissue reaction to asbestos, they should have been present at a certain moment. As to its demonstration with EM I do not know but I think it will be very difficult to infiltrate the fibers in Epoxi resin to be cut. If you are able to do that: how are you going to identify an extremely thin section of asbestos? I think that you should either try the tissue digestion or give another try at the Perl reaction. René J.
--- On Tue, 11/22/11, Yolanda Davies <yolanda.dav...@uct.ac.za> wrote: From: Yolanda Davies <yolanda.dav...@uct.ac.za> Subject: [Histonet] demonstration of asbestos by means of electron microscopy To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu Date: Tuesday, November 22, 2011, 4:14 AM Dear all I am a histotechnologist in forensics, Cape Town, South Africa. I received a request to show asbestos in lung tissue where there is definite interstitial fibrosis, but the presence of asbestos is not clear. Is it possible to reveal asbestos by means of electron microscopy? Usually asbestos is demonstrated using the Perl's Prussian blue technique, but most times they are elusive. Could it be because of the sampling site or simply the nature of the asbestos? Thank you in advance Yolanda Davies Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Falmouth building Anzio Road Observatory Cape Town South Africa ### UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN This e-mail is subject to the UCT ICT policies and e-mail disclaimer published on our website at http://www.uct.ac.za/about/policies/emaildisclaimer/ or obtainable from +27 21 650 9111. This e-mail is intended only for the person(s) to whom it is addressed. If the e-mail has reached you in error, please notify the author. If you are not the intended recipient of the e-mail you may not use, disclose, copy, redirect or print the content. If this e-mail is not related to the business of UCT it is sent by the sender in the sender's individual capacity. ### -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet