Hong Kong Institute of Medical Laboratory Sciences Ltd. - Education Materials - Histopathology

The section shows the normal architecture of a kidney. Nearly 80% of modern laboratories uses 10% buffered formalin instead of Bouin's fluid to fix renal tissue. They also cut the sections at 2 mm thick in order to get clearer image of the glomerular basement membrane. Nearly half and half of the laboratories used periodic acid or double oxidation method for the oxidation step. Most of them pre-heated the working solution and incubated in a water bath at 56-60 ^oC. About two-third counterstained with Light Green while the others counterstained with H&E. The best result was obtained from doubly oxidizing the section with 1% periodic acid for 10 min. and 5% chromic acid for 15 min., staining with silver solution for 20 min., toning with 0.2% gold chloride for 2 min., and counterstaining with 0.2% Light Green for 30 sec.