Richard,
You wrote: What are people fixing testicular biopsies in to evaluate infertility? In the past, I believe fixatives such as Zenker's and Bouin's were used for this purpose since they enhance nuclear detail. Obviously, those fixatives can no longer be used. Thank you. *************************************************** I don't think Bouin's is forbidden in laboratories and we certainly used it routinely for the Masson Trichrome connective tissue stain. The problem is having stock Picric Acid in crystal form, now frowned upon by chemical safety people and eliminated from shelves these days. I had no problem storing stock picric acid under a layer of water and keeping crystals from outside edges of lid. Zenkers is obviously not used due to mercury content. Bouin's is still used for Masson's Trichrome staining and can be purchased ready-made from Sigma, Fisher and elsewhere. The key would be to use it to fix testicular biopsies, with no more than 72 hour fixation. Be careful to wipe any drips from around lids where picric acid crystals form, collect and dispose of this fixative per your lab's regulations. There is a B-5 substitute, sold by BBC, which may do the job just as well. This B-5 substitute is known to work well for bone marrow biopsies where good nuclear detail is important, and may be a good option. If your techs are using Bouins for Massons Trichrome connective tissue staining, you could get a small container for the biopsy. Good luck Gayle M. Callis HTL/HT/MT(ASCP) GCallis Histology Service LLC _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet