Histology of the Liver - Essay Example

Being one of the largest glands in the body, the liver has a complex and intricate histology and any disruption of structure can lead to derangements in function. This report discusses the process of two different staining techniques used to visualize both normal and abnormal liver histology and discusses the findings obtained in light of knowledge of liver physiology and pathology. In order to examine the histology of the liver and to elucidate whether the patient was suffering from any liver pathology, in particular hemochromatosis, three sections of the liver obtained via biopsy, labeled A, B and C had been provided to be tested.

These sections had been cut from paraffin wax embedded tissue block. Amongst these, section B had been provided as a control section to test the proper functioning of the stains being used. Prior to the commencement of staining, all three sections were de-waxed in order to remove the paraffin wax from the sections and to ensure the proper hydration of the provided tissues. This was achieved via mounting all three slides into a dry staining rack and then placing the slides in to different solutions placed in six different tanks consecutively for 2 minutes each.

Amongst these 6 tanks, the first three contained Xylene, following which the slides had to be placed in tanks containing Ethanol, 100% industrial methylated spirits (IMS) and 70 % IMS, in the aforementioned order. The slides were then rinsed with tap water and distilled water, respectively. The slides were then left in distilled water till the time they were stained with either H and E or Prussion Blue. While mounting the slides on the staining rack, steps were taken in order to ensure that the rack was dry as a wet rack would have caused water being deposited in Xylene.

The next step was to stain the slides with H and E. To achieve this, the slide marked C was placed in haematoxylin solution for 5 minutes after which it was rinsed with distilled water. It was then dipped in