title: Biosafe alternative to xylene: A comparative study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Xylene in one of the non-substitutable chemical used in histology laboratories. However, it is known to have many toxic effects. The toxic effects of xylene include heart and kidney injuries, some fatal blood dyscrasia and other less dangerous problems, such as skin erythema, drying, scaling and secondary infections. The exposure and handling of xylene is maximum during deparaffinizing tissue sections.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of 1.7% dishwashing soap (DWS) solution as a deparaffinizing agent for hematoxylin and eosin (H and E) staining and compare it with xylene.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty sections of 4 μm were obtained from 30 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues and were considered in two different groups, groups A and B. Slides in group A were stained with routine H and E staining procedure; whereas, slides in group B were stained using 1.7% DWS as a deparaffinizing agent.
  
  
  METHODS
  Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test was used to calculate the test of significance (P-value significant at ≤0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  1.7% DWS was found to be an effective alternative deparaffinizing agent to xylene and meanwhile facilitating as less biohazardous, economical and a faster deparaffinizing agent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Himachal Institute of Dental Sciences, Paonta Sahib, Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Amita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Negi
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Himachal Institute of Dental Sciences, Paonta Sahib, Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Abhiney
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Puri
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Himachal Institute of Dental Sciences, Paonta Sahib, Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Rakhi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Himachal Institute of Dental Sciences, Paonta Sahib, Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Isha
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Chauhan
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Himachal Institute of Dental Sciences, Paonta Sahib, Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Rajat
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nangia
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Himachal Institute of Dental Sciences, Paonta Sahib, Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Alisha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sachdeva
keywords: Deparaffinization; hematoxylin and eosin; liquid dishwashing solution; xylene