> > In answer to a query about tissue Gram staining, Tony Henwood adds > instability of the iodine solution to the long list of reasons why tissue > Gram staining doesn't work very well. >
The Gram stain done on smears is of course one of the most useful microtechniques in microbiology, but tissue Gram stains work much less well, and are of very limited use. Unfortunately pathologists are fixated on them, so they're very hard to ban from the laboratory. Pathologist, if you wanna see bugs, get a toluidine blue or Diff-Quik 2 or whatever blue bug stain your lab uses. Quantitating bacteria in tissue sections has its uses (in burn tissue, for example), but if you want identification, somebody shoulda got a culture. Or use a specific immunohistochemical technique for the organism you suspect. Bob Richmond Samurai Pathologist Maryville TN _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
