Chapter 9: Nerve Flashcards
Cresyl Echt Violet 1 Purpose
Identification of neurons or demonstration of lost Nissl substance that indicates neuronal injury
Cresyl Echt Violet 1 Principle
Nissl substance is very basophilic due to RNA content, and therefore stains sharply with basic aniline dyes
Adjusting pH can show both Nissl and nuclei or only Nissl
Cresyl Echt Violet 1 Preferred Fixative
10% NBF
Spinal cord control
Cresyl Echt Violet 1 Basic Procedure
- Deparaffinize, hydrate
- Stain in cresyl echt violet (ripen for 24-48 hours and filter before use)
- Rinse in distilled water
- Place sections in 95% alcohol
- Transfer sections to absolute alcohol
- Place in xylene
- Place in balsam-xylene mixture
- Differentiate in absolute alcohol, check sections microscopically
- Several changes of xylene
- repeat 7-9 multiple times until differentiation is complete; background should be colorless and blue to purple nuclei and Nissl
- Coverslip
Cresyl Echt Violet 1 Results
Nissl substance and nuclei: blue to purple
background: colorless
Cresyl Echt Violet 1 Technical notes
Differentiation should be repeated until the background is colorless. This usually requires several repetitions
The alcohol following the balsam-xylene mixture will become cloudy and should be changed frequently
Cresyl Echt Violet 2 Purpose
Identify neurons or loss of Nissl substance (chromatolysis)
Cresyl Echt Violet 2 Principle
Same as method one, but the cresyl echt violet is at an acidic pH which enhances contrast between the background and Nissl or nuclei
Cresyl Echt Violet 2 Preferred Fixative
10% NBF
Cresyl Echt Violet 2 Basic Procedure
- Deparaffinize, hydrate
- stain in acidic cresyl echt violet (includes alcohol and acetic acid)
- Dehydrate, clear, coverslip
Cresyl Echt Violet 2 Results
Nissl substance and nuclei: blue-purple
Background: colorless
Cresyl Echt Violet 2 Technical notes
Macroscopically the slides will appear unstained
Cresyl echt violet from Luxol fast blue stain may also be used to identify Nissl substance
Bodian Method Purpose
Stain nerve fibers
Bodian Method Principle
- Protargol (brand name silver proteinate) impregnates tissue
- Copper is added to impregnating solution to “destain” connective tissue to improve differentiation
- Hydroquinone reduces the deposited silver salts into visible metallic silver
- Gold chloride is the toner (oxalic acid can be used to reduce the gold and intensify the stain)
- Sodium thiosulfate removes unreduced silver
Bodian Method Preferred Fixative
10% NBF
Control: peripheral nerve or cerebral cortex to avoid cross-section
Bodian Method Basic Procedure
- Deparaffinize, hydrate
- Add clean copper shot to Protargol at 37C for 48 hours
- Rinse in distilled water
- place in reducing solution
- Rinse in water
- Tone in gold chloride
- rinse in water
- Develop in Oxalic Acid, checking microscopically until the background is grey and the nerve fibers appear clearly stained. Don’t treat too long or it will ruin the silver
- Rinse in water
- Treat with sodium thiosulfate to remove unreduced silver
- Rinse in distilled water
- Counterstain, if desired, with aniline blue
- Dehydrate, clear, coverslip
Bodian Method Results
Nerve fibers and nuclei: black
Background: light grey or blue (if counterstained)
Bodian Method Technical notes
Copper shot is cleaned with aqua regia (HCl +Nitric Acid). After use it should be gradually poured into a very large volume of water and then discarded in the sink. Do not pour directly into sink, do not add water to the acid.
Protargol should be left undisturbed until it is completely dissolved
use chemically clean glassware and non-metallic forceps
Don’t overcounterstain with Aniline blue
You can also use nuclear fast red as a counterstain
Holmes Silver Nitrate Method Purpose
Demonstrate nerve fibers and neurofibrils
Holmes Silver Nitrate Method Principle
Bodian doesn’t work well because the Protargol solution never reaches necessary alkalinity for proper impregnation. Holmes developed a buffered impregnation solution
This is an argyrophil silver method that requires chemical reduction
Gold chloride toner, Oxalic acid reducer, and sodium thiosulfate are the same as in Bodian
Holmes Silver Nitrate Method Preferred Fixative
10% NBF
Control: peripheral nerve or cerebral cortex to avoid cross-section
10-15uM paraffin
Holmes Silver Nitrate Method Basic Procedure
- Deparaffinize, hydrate
- Place in 20% silver nitrate in the dark
- Prepare impregnating solution (Boric acid, Borax, water, silver nitrate, pyridine)
- Wash slides in distilled water
- Place slides in impregnating solution overnight at 37C
- Remove slides, shake of excess fluid, and place in reducer (hydroquinone, sodium sulfite, water)
- wash in running water
- Rinse in distilled water
- Tone in gold chloride (can be re-used until brown precipitate forms or the solution becomes cloudy)
- Rinse in distilled water
- Place slides in oxalic acid, when the axons are thoroughly blue-black, stop the process
- Rinse in distilled water
- place in sodium thiosulfate
- wash in tap water. Counterstain if desired
- Dehydrate, clear, coverslip
Holmes Silver Nitrate Method Results
Axons and nerve fibers: black
Neurofibrils: black
Holmes Silver Nitrate Method Technical notes
Pyridine is toxic by ingestion, inhalation, and skin absorption. Use under a fume hood with gloves and goggles
Bielschowsky-PAS Purpose
To demonstrate nerve fibers, neurofibrillary tangles, and senile plaques in Alzheimer disease
Bielschowsky-PAS Principle
- impregnate with ammoniacal silver which deposits on neurofibrils and axons
- silver is reduced to metallic silver by formaldehyde in the developer
- Gold chloride tones the tissue and removes yellow
- sodium thiosulfate removes unreduced silver background
- schiff reaction (PAS) stains basement membranes and amyloid in the plaques
Bielschowsky-PAS Preferred Fixative
10% NBF
Control: CNS tissue containing plaques and tangles
Bielschowsky-PAS Basic Procedure
- Prepare ammoniacal silver solution
- Deparaffinize, hydrate
- Place in silver nitrate solution in the dark at room temp
- Wash with distilled water
- Place in ammoniacal silver solution
- Wash in ammonia water
- While slides are in ammonia water, add 2 drops of developer to the ammoniacal silver solution from step 5
- place slides in ammoniacal/developer solution. The tissue should turn brown in about 3 minutes
- Wash well in ammonia water, then distilled water
- Tone in gold chloride until grey appears
- Wash in ammonia water, then rinse in distilled water
- Place in sodium thiosulfate
- Wash in running tap water
- Rinse well in distilled water
- Place sections in 1% periodic acid
- Rinse in distilled water
- Place in schiff reagent
- Wash in tap water
- Dehydrate, clear, coverslip
Bielschowsky-PAS Results
Neurofibrillary tangles: dark black
Peripheral neurites and plaques: dark black
Axons: black
Amyloid (plaque cores and vasculature): magenta
Lipofuchsin: magenta
Bielschowsky-PAS Microwave Purpose
Demonstrate nerve fibers, tangles, and plaques in Alzheimer’s
Bielschowsky-PAS Microwave Principle
Sections are not toned with gold chloride so yellow background remains
Bielschowsky-PAS Microwave Preferred Fixative
10% NBF
Control: CNS with plaques and tangles
Bielschowsky-PAS Microwave Basic Procedure
- Deparaffinize, hydrate
- Place slides in 1% Silver Nitrate, dip several times and incubate in warm solution for 15 minutes
- Place slides in distilled water
- 1% silver nitrate from step 2 + 28% ammonium drops until precipitate clears, then 5% silver nitrate drops until solution becomes slightly cloudy
- microwave slides in the solution, dip slides and incubate in warm solution
- Place slides in 1% ammonium hydroxide
- add 3 drops developer to ammoniacal silver from step 5, place slides in solution until tissue turns brown
- Place slides in 1% ammonium hydroxide
- Rinse in distilled water
- Wipe silver mirror off both sides of slide without disturbing the tissue
- place slides in 2% sodium thiosulfate
- Rinse slides in distilled water
- Dehydrate, clear, coverslip
Bielschowsky-PAS Microwave Results
Axons: brown to black Cytoplasmic neurofibrils: brown to black Tangles and plaques: dark brown or black Neuromelanin: black Lipofuchsin: brown or black
Bielschowsky-PAS Microwave Technical notes
Use chemically cleaned glassware, non-metallic forceps
Uses much less silver nitrate than traditional Bielschowsky and stains tangles and plaques better
Sevier-Munger Modification of Bielschowsky Purpose
Demonstrate nerve fibers, tangles, and plaques for Alzheimer’s
Sevier-Munger Principle
Ammoniacal silver impregnation
Reduced by formaldehyde developer
No toning with gold chloride so yellow background remains
Sodium Thiosulfate removes unreduced silver
Sevier-Munger Preferred Fixative
10% NBF
Control: CNS with tangles and plaques
6-8uM sections
Sevier-Munger Basic Procedure
- Deparaffinize, hydrate
- Preheat 20% silver nitrate, then add slides to warm silver solution and incubate in the oven
- Rinse one slide at a time in distilled water and place in a clean, dry staining jar
- add 10 drops formalin, while agitating, to working ammoniacal silver solution, pour over slides and develop until golden brown. Check microscopically, do not wash while checking, keep in motion while developing to avoid precipitation
- Rinse slides well in tap water
- Place in sodium thiosulfate
- Wash well in tap water
- Dehydrate, clear, coverslip
Sevier-Munger Results
Nerve endings and neurofibrils: black
Tangles, peripheral neurites, and plaques: black
Sevier-Munger Technical notes
Very reliable and reproduce-able technique
Concentration of ammonium hydroxide and formalin are critical
leave a few particles of silver, do not add extra ammonia
This is an argyrophil stain that is also useful fro demonstrating the granules of some carcinoid tumor cells
Thioflavin S (modified) Purpose
Demonstrates presence of tangles, plaques, threads in addition to parenchymal and amyloid deposition in Alzheimer’s disease