European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Introduction :
xylene is the widely used deparaffinizing agent in the Hematoxylin and Eosin procedure
because of its high solvent property. It is biohazardous in nature and causes toxic effects to
health. Hence there is need for the development of safer xylene alternatives in
histopathological procedures.
Aim :
The present study aims to assess the efficacy of eco-friendly Sweet lime juice as a
deparaffinizing agents in Hematoxylin & Eosin procedure and to compare it with routine
Hematoxylin & Eosin procedure using xylene as a deparaffinizing agent.
Materials and methods:
The present study includes 50 paraffin embedded blocks, two sections were prepared from
each block. One section( Group A) was stained with routine H & E stain with xylene and the
other section(Group B) was stained with xylene -free H &E stain with sweet lime juice as
deparaffinizing agent. Stained slides were examined by the pathologist and scores were given
to the staining parameters like cytoplasmic and nuclear staining, clarity, crispness and
uniformity of staining.
Results:
Staining parameters of all the group A and group B sections were examined and compared
with each other. Group B sections with sweet lime juice shows 85 % adequacy of staining for
the diagnosis.
Conclusion :
The results of the present study observed that the sweet lime juice can be used as safer and
eco-friendly substitute to xylene for deparaffinization in Hematoxylin and Eosin staining
procedure