In: Biology
A blood smear is colored using May-Grunwald solution, Giemsa and a phosphate-buffer solution. Why are white blood cells easier to spot after this process?
White Blood Cells consists of
May-Grunwald solution is a neutral staining solution containing both acidic and basic staining components.
The acidic component stains the eosinophils and give them a orange-pink hue.
The basic component stains the basophils, monocytes and lymphocytes in various shades ranging from purple to blue.
Giemsa solution is also a neutral staining solution mainly used for azurophilic granules present in neutrophils. The cytoplasm in the neutrophil gets stained as pinkish hue due to eosin component of the Giemsa solution. The neucleus gets dark blue hue due to the Azurophilic Granules present in them due to the metachromatic basic component of the solution.
After staining the blood smear is washed by the Phosphate-buffer solution which helps in removal of any remaining staining solution on the smear.
Phosphate-buffer solution is used to maintain the ph of the solution between 6.8-7.2 which is of utmost importance for differentiating the stained white blood cells.This solution is also used for fixation of the blood smear.
Due to above reasons it is easier to differentiate the WBCs stained using May-Grunwald Giemsa Staining Solution followed by the Phosphate-buffer Solution.