2017 Volume 66 Issue 6 Pages 629-635
In this study, we explore the effects of deparaffinization on elastic fiber staining and compare the characteristics of deparaffinization reagents. Weak or uneven staining of elastic fibers is sometimes experienced. We focused on deparaffinization insufficiency, which is considered to be the cause of this weak or uneven staining. In this study, we used FFPE of elastic-fiber-rich aorta. We prepared specimens under various deparaffinization conditions; namely, various liquid temperatures and durations of dipping the specimens in reagents. Then, by staining the elastic fibers in the specimens, we observed weak staining of specimens with insufficient deparaffinization and we compared the deparaffinization capability of four kinds of reagents. The results indicate that paraffin remaining in small amounts on specimens was considered to be one of the causes of weak staining of elastic fibers. We found that the liquid temperature of the reagent, not only the dipping duration, greatly affects the deparaffinization process. A saturated hydrocarbon xylene substitute was found to have a higher deparaffinization capability than the other reagents, because the chemical structure of paraffin is closer to this substitute than to xylene and benzene.
