title: A comparative study to evaluate liquid dish washing soap as an alternative to xylene and alcohol in deparaffinization and hematoxylin and eosin staining.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Our study presents a new deparaffinizing and hematoxylin and eosin (H and E) staining method that involves the use of easily available, nontoxic and eco-friendly liquid diluted dish washing soap (DWS) by completely eliminating expensive and hazardous xylene and alcohol from deparaffinizing and rehydration prior to staining, staining and from dehydration prior to mounting. The aim was to evaluate and compare the quality of liquid DWS treated xylene and alcohol free (XAF) sections with that of the conventional H and E sections.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 100 paraffin embedded tissue blocks from different tissues were included. From each tissue block, one section was stained with conventional H and E (normal sections) and the other with XAF H and E (soapy sections) staining method. Slides were scored using five parameters: Nuclear, cytoplasmic, clarity, uniformity, and crispness of staining. Z-test was used for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Soapy sections scored better for cytoplasmic (90%) and crisp staining (95%) with a statistically significant difference. Whereas for uniformity of staining, normal sections (88%) scored over soapy sections (72%) (Z = 2.82, P < 0.05). For nuclear (90%) and clarity of staining (90%) total scored favored soapy sections, but the difference was not statistically significant. About 84% normal sections stained adequately for diagnosis when compared with 86% in soapy sections (Z = 0.396, P > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Liquid DWS is a safe and efficient alternative to xylene and alcohol in deparaffinization and routine H and E staining procedure. We are documenting this project that can be used as a model for other histology laboratories.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, UP Rural Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Saifai, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Pinki
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, UP Rural Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Saifai, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Alok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dixit
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Maharishi Markandeshwar Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Sultanpur, Kumarhatti, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Aparna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanwar
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, M M Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, M M University, Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Anuradha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, M M Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, M M University, Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Sanjeev
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mittal
keywords: Alcohol; deparaffinization; eosin; hematoxylin; liquid dish washing soap; xylene-free staining