CHAPTER XLII * 

 MYELIN STAINS 



1054. Iron Haematoxylin. According to A. Bollcs Lee (see 

 1913 ed.) the simplest way of staining myelin is to make paraffin 

 sections of formol material and stain them with Heidenhain's 

 iron haematoxylin exactly as for centrosomes (say, twelve to 

 fourteen hours in the mordant, six in the haematoxylin, and a 

 few minutes for the differentiation). Sections best not over 15 />t. 

 One may counterstain the cells with carmalum, but not for more 

 than half an hour, or the hsematoxylin will be attacked. The 

 stain is not so aesthetic as Weigert's, but quite as sharp. Axis- 

 cylinders are not shown. 



Regaud (C. R. Acad. Sc, cxlviii, 1909, p. 861), but adding a 

 chrome mordantage either concurrently with the formol fixation, 

 or subsequently ; Nageotte (C. R. Soc. Biol., Ixvii, 1909, p. 542) ; 

 HousER {Journ. Comp. Neurol., x, 1901, p. 65), and Spielmeyer 

 {Neurol. Centrbl., xxix, 1910, p. 348 ; and his Technik d. mikrosk. 

 Untersuch. d. Nervensy stems, 1924, p. 98), stain frozen sections 

 of 25 to 35 /i with Heidenhain's iron haematoxylin. Loyez 

 (C. R. Soc. Biol., Ixix, 1910, p. 511) makes celloidin sections of 

 formalin fixed material, and after mordanting in iron alum, stains 

 them in Weigert's lithium carbonate haematoxylin, preferably 

 imripened, differentiates first lightly, till the grey matter begins 

 to appear, in the iron alum, then washes, and differentiates 

 further in Weigert's borax ferricyanide ; Gilbert {Ztsch. wiss. 

 Mikr., xxviii, 1911, p. 279) mordants with iron alum, stains 

 with molybdic acid hcematoxylin, and differentiates with the 

 borax ferricyanide ; Stoeltzner {ibid., xxiii, 1906, p. 329) 

 mordants celloidin sections of formol material for five minutes 

 in Liq. ferri sesquichlorati, stains in 0-5 per cent, haematoxylin, 

 and differentiates in the mordant or in borax ferricyanide. 



Weil (" Textbook of Neuropathology," 1934, Kimpton, London) 

 uses frozen celloidin or paralTm sections from 20 to 30 /x thick. 

 Frozen sections are placed in 70 per cent, alcohol for five to ten 

 minutes and are then washed in distilled water before staining. 

 The sections are stained at 55° C. for twenty to thirty minutes 

 in equal parts of 4 per cent, iron alum and a 1 per cent, aqueous 

 solution of haematoxylin prepared from a 10 per cent, alcoholic 

 solution at least six months old. After differentiation first in 



* Revised by .J. G. G. and R. O. S. 



521 



