Dear histonetters,
I came across a question regarding the Warthin-Starry principle. Are bacterial catalase or oxidase the cause for developement of silver-deposits? The usual explanation is, that bacteria are able to bind silver onto their surface, that is further reduced by hydrochinon to visible silver-deposits. But why? Some considerations: The pH must be held at pH4 with citric acid in the WS developement-solution. (Is this the pH-optimum for the bacterial enzymes?) IHC shows that endogenous peroxidase survives the embedding-process. (Is this also true for the bacterial enzymes?) Spirochetes (and others) are catalase and oxidase positive. Silver-In situ hybdridisation technique shows, that peroxidase with H2O2 can be used to reduce Silveracetate for silver-deposits. Is there a possible relationship between the bacterial enzymes and the WS principle? Or am I totally on an erroneous way? What do you think? thanks for any input. Gudrun Lang _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
