128 Hematoxylin Staining (chap. 12) 



Let stand until a deep wine-red color; 4-5 months is not too long. 

 Add 4-5 ml. of this stock solution to 100 ml. distilled water; this 

 gives a practically aqueous solution and is already ripe. Saturated 

 aqueous lithium carbonate — 3 drops — added to the working solution 

 improves color. 



Never mix A and B. A is used as a mordant solution, and precedes B. 

 Mallory's Iron Chloride Hematoxylin (1944) 



SOLUTION A. 



iron chloride, FeCU 5.0 gm. 



distilled water 100.0 ml. 



SOLUTION B. 



hematoxylin 0.5 gm. 



distilled water 100.0 ml. 



Prepare fresh each time. These solutions are never mixed. Rawlins 

 and Takahashi (1947) say that bubbling air through hematoxylin so- 

 lutions ripens them more rapidly. American hematoxylin solutions 

 may ripen in 2-3 weeks. Hance and Green (1959) ripen solutions even 

 more rapidly by bubbling oxygen from a tank into the bottom of a 

 container of hematoxylin. 



Testing Hematoxylin Solutions 



Add several drops of the solution to tap (not distilled) water. If it turns 

 bluish purple immediately it is still satisfactory, but if it changes slowly, 

 stays reddish or brownish, it has weakened or broken down and should 

 be discarded. 



Substitutes for Hematoxylin Solutions 



Gallocvanin 



gallocyanin 0.15 gm. 



chrome alum, Cr2(S04)3KoS04-24H20 5% 



aqueous 100.0 ml. 



Boil 2-3 minutes. Filter. Keeps about a week, then deteriorates 

 slowly. An iron lake may be prepared by substituting 5% aqueous 

 iron alum for the chrome alum. (Proescher and Arkush, 192S) 



