Papanicolaou stain Flashcards
Multichromatic staining cytological technique that is used to differentiate cells in smear preparations of various bodily secretions, including gynecological smears (Pap smears), sputum, brushings, washings, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, abdominal fluid, pleural fluid, synovial fluid, seminal fluid, fine needle aspiration material, tumor touch samples, or other materials containing cells.
Papanicolaou stain
It is used to stain the nuclei.
Hematoxylin (nuclear stain)
It stains keratin and was originally used to stain the small cells of keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma present in sputum.
Orange G
stains the superficial epithelial squamous cells, nucleoli, cilia, and red blood cells.
Eosin Y
stains the cytoplasm of other cells, including non- keratinized squamous cells.
Light Green SF yellowish
Since Light Green SF yellowish is quite expensive and difficult to obtain, what can be used as an alternative stain?
Fast Green FCF
Stains nothing and in contemporary formulations it is often omitted.
Bismarck brown Y
When papanicolaou is performed properly, the stained specimen should display hues from the entire spectrum. What are the colors involved?
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet.
Color of Cell nuclei.
crisp blue to black.
Color of cells with high content of keratin and glycogen.
yellow
Color of Superficial cells.
orange to pink
Color of intermediate and parabasalcells.
turquoise green to blue
What type of cell often stain both green and pink at once.
Metaplastic cells
TRUE OR FALSE. OG and EA stains lose strength more rapidly than hematoxylin and should be replaced every week or as soon as the staining of cells are no longer sharp and crisp.
True
TRUE OR FALSE. Wet fixation is time consuming, shows drying artifacts and less retention of material compared to air dried smears.
True
TRUE OR FALSE. Air dried smears also have shortcomings such as magnification in the cell size, and often the morphology of the cells is not crisp.
True
Composition of Harris’ Hematoylin
Hematoxylin 5g
Ethanol 50ml
Potassium alum 100g Distilled water (50°C) 1000ml Mercuric oxide 2.5g
Glacial acetic acid 40ml
Composition of Orange G 6
Orange G (10% aqueous) 50ml Alcohol 950ml Phosphotungstic acid 0.15g
Composition of EA50
0.04 M light green SF 10ml 0.3M eosin Y
20ml Phosphotungstic acid 2g
Alcohol 750ml
Methanol 250ml
Glacial acetic acid 20ml
Result of Original Papanicolaou staining method.
Nuclei blue/black
Cytoplasm (non-keratinizing squamous cells) blue/green
Keratinizing cells pink/orange
