I have always used Xylene to stain my slides and also in histology during my PhD. But now, I want to to use some Xylene replacements for staining and in histology too. But I am not sure about the results of using Xylene replacements instead of Xylene. Please suggest. Thank you in advance.
I have been in histology for over 25 years and xylene is the best as a clearing agent. I have used xylene substitute in the past for a few years in a GLP research environment, where we were processing large carcinogen studies, but we ended up returning back to the original xylene. We were having issues with poor infiltration during processing and also cloudy slides after staining. This created a large amount of rework, cost, and time. I have heard that the newer xylene substitutes are better than the ones in the past, but have not tried them.
Xylene is very important in case of Histological study. As Xylene gives clarity and purify the sections. Hence I recommend to use Xylene for ur better results as u already did in PhD.
Hello,
I once used Rothihistol from Roth (a german supplier).
It is based on orange fruit peelings.
The results were very bad and I again continued with xylene: The one and only!
Kind regards
Stefan
Thank you @ Stefan Jean-Pierre Haas, David Ofusori and Ishtiyaq Ahmad for the inputs.
I have been in histology for over 25 years and xylene is the best as a clearing agent. I have used xylene substitute in the past for a few years in a GLP research environment, where we were processing large carcinogen studies, but we ended up returning back to the original xylene. We were having issues with poor infiltration during processing and also cloudy slides after staining. This created a large amount of rework, cost, and time. I have heard that the newer xylene substitutes are better than the ones in the past, but have not tried them.
Why I respect both aspects (Xylene and/or Xylene-free) is the following:
Most bigger diagnostic Routine Histo-Labs -at least in my country- seem not to have the time and (personal and perhaps financial) sources to do research work (in parallel) to find out the best protocol for such a 'centennial' change in processing.
(Imagine: a Lab changes/changed their standard processing protocol from e.g. xylene to -when I was active- 'Rotihistol', 'limonene' or similar named products offered in that time without 'testing' ? Specimen preparations in parallel -one for xylene/paraffin and one for xylene free/paraffin- would have been mandatory.... impossible in a routine diagnostic lab (I am talking about one in my former institution processing 500 + surgical specimens / day for histology and IHC/ICC....
So it might be time to get the "New Processing" into work (standardized, cerified SOP's, given a certified 'product' list (also a list of suppliers, at least for Europe)...Anybody out there in a bigger diagnostic Histo-Lab able to provide a functional SOP they would be willing to share publicly?
Matthew Ibbs thank you for mentioning some profound, basic literature...I had not the time yet to dig for these references to get an original reprint or a digital pdf-copy...Would you mind to provide such, if I am asking honestly for? Thanking you in advance, best wishes and regards, STAY SAFE and HEALTHY, WHM
Dear Matthew Ibbs , THANK YOU so much for positive support!
regards and compliments, WHM
An added note: When I tried a limonene-based substitute (Histoclear II), in comparing to xylene, they worked comparably. One unexpected effect: The limonene had significantly lower autofluorescence.
C'est un excellent solvant de la paraffine comme le toluène et le cyclohexane !
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