Observations on the results of specific histochemical techniques and empirical staining methods on several tissue/organ types using a variety of fixing fluids

Several histotechniques (Harris hematoxylin and alcoholic eosin, Gomori's reticulum method, Verhoeff's elastic stain; Gomori's trichrome, Mallory's aniline blue collagen stain and the Cameron and Steele method) were each used with a number of fixatives (Lavdowsky's chromic acid, Karnovsky's glutaraldehyde/paraformaldehyde, neutral buffered formalin, Lavdowsky's formalinacetic acid-alcohol, Zenker's and Helley's). Lavdowsky's chromic acid fixative provided superior results as compared to the other fixing fluids and its use was critical with respect to the trichrome or connective tissue staining procedures. The Cameron and Steele modification used with Lavdowsky's chromic acid fixative gave the best differentiation of tissue types and was also the most reproducible.