Preparation of thin epoxy resin sections from thick sections of paraffin-embedded material.

PROCEDURES The following have been used with success: haematoxylin and eosin, Perls's reaction for ferric iron, the periodic acid-Schiff reaction for carbohydrates, the alcian blue method for acid mucopolysaccharides, the Feulgen reaction for desoxyribonucleic acid, the periodic acid-hexamine silver method, Luxol fast blue for myelin, solochrome cyanine as a general stain, Heidenhain's iron haematoxylin method, and simple stains with basic dyes such as methylene blue and cresyl fast violet. Van Gieson's picrofuchsin and connective tissue stains of the Masson type do not work. Poor results were given by the methyl green-pyronin stain (Trevan and Shorrocks) for nucleic acids. (Technical details for all these methods may be found in any current text of histological technique, for example, that of Drury and Wallington, 1967.)