A modified McMullen's staining for Helicobacter pylori: a high-contrast, visibly prominent method.
BACKGROUND
Many stains can be used for the histological assessment of Helicobacter pylori, but all have defects from the standpoint of sensitivity, convenience, stability, visible prominence and cost. This paper describes a stain which produces satisfactory results on all the above accounts.


METHODS
Paraffin-embedded sections were dewaxed and treated with 0.2% w/v carbol fuchsin for two min; then 1.0% w/v malachite green was applied for two minutes.


RESULTS
This technique stained the bacterial from a deep magenta against a light green background. The characteristic morphology of H. pylori was identified very easily as a stumpy curved rod, and the coccoid forms were also identified. Staining was not specific with mixed samples of bacteria, but it was sufficient to identify H. pylori in the gastric mucosa.


CONCLUSIONS
We have established an easy, stable, convenient, low-cost, and easily recognizable staining method for H. pylori in paraffin-embedded tissue.
Iwaki
H
H
Department of Clinical Pathology, Sapporo Medical University, School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Japan.
Sugiyama
T
T
Asaka
M
M
D004396:Coloring Agents; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods*
D004396:Coloring Agents