An improved histochemical technique for differentiating adrenaline- and noradrenaline-containing cells

Sevki's histochemical technique allows specific staining of catecholamine-containing cells, yet discrimination between adrenaline-(ADR-) cells and noradrenaline-(NOR-) cells is unreliable, being based on hue differences. In this work, histochemical differentiation of ADR- and NOR-cells in rat a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inArchives of medical research Vol. 29; no. 1; p. 75
Main Authors Ortíz-Butron, R, Piñón-López, M J, Juárez-Santiago, L, Racotta, R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 1998
Subjects
Adrenal Medulla - chemistry
Adrenal Medulla - cytology
Animals
Cell Differentiation - physiology
Epinephrine - analysis
Histocytochemistry
Male
Norepinephrine - analysis
Rats
Rats, Wistar
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Summary:Sevki's histochemical technique allows specific staining of catecholamine-containing cells, yet discrimination between adrenaline-(ADR-) cells and noradrenaline-(NOR-) cells is unreliable, being based on hue differences. In this work, histochemical differentiation of ADR- and NOR-cells in rat adrenal medulla was carried out by introducing two modifications to Sevki's technique: 1) employment of aged Giemsa solution, and 2) addition of an alkaline differentiating step. With these changes, ADR-cells stained brown, whereas NOR-cells were deep-green, resulting in a clear-cut differentiation. The modified technique permits to differentiate ADR- from NOR-cells in the adrenal medulla using only a bright field microscope without any sophisticated equipment. The present procedure is inexpensive and easy to carry out.
ISSN:0188-4409