Cytochemical Information and Courses from MediaLab, Inc.
These are the MediaLab courses that cover Cytochemical and links to relevant pages within the course.
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| Preparation of Concentrated Smears In some laboratories the anticoagulated sample is used to prepare concentrated smears. Placing the fluid in a Wintrobe tube and centrifuging it separates the sample into four layers:fat and perivascular cellsplasmabuffy layer - myeloid and nucleated erythroid cellserythrocytesThe volume of each layer is measured using the scale on the Wintrobe tube and then the percentage of each layer is calculated. Next the plasma is removed and a smear is made from the buffy coat and top of the red cell layer. Either the manual push method or cytospin technique may be used to make the smears. They may be stained with a variety of cytochemical stains. Concentrated smears are used to examine cell morphology and demonstrate the presence of abnormal cells when the marrow is hypocellular. The smears cannot be used for differential counts or evaluation of cellularity. | View Page |
| Biopsy Touch Preparation A touch prep is made by holding the biopsy plug with a forceps and touching the plug to one or more clean slides in several places. Imprints of the marrow remain on the slide. The slides are quickly air dried, fixed with methanol and stained with Wright-Giemsa or other cytochemical stains. Morphologic details of the cells are preserved with this type of preparation. | View Page |