Picture taken from: http://www.ventanamed.com/The Nexes Special Stain machine is barcode-driven and has optimizes protocols to help ameliorate productivity and consistency. The tray in the machine can hold up to 20 slides while the reagent tray can take up to 25 reagents.
1) The sections are fished from the floatation bath and onto the slide.
2) The biopsy number and the name of the special stain required is labeled on the slide.
(ie. 08/12345 GMS)
3) The slide is heated on the hot plate.
4) The barcode label is keyed in and the protocol of the test required for the slide is chosen.
5) The label is pasted on the slide.
6) The slide is sent for dewaxing.
7) The slide is placed in the slide tray in Nexes.
8) The section on the slide is hydrated with a wash solution to prevent drying up of the section and to prevent unwanted solution in the machine to dirty parts of the slide.
9) The reagents required are loaded.
10) The liquid coverslip solution is filled up if it is insufficient.
(The liquid coverslip acts as a temporary protection while the slide is still in the machine after staining)
11) The RUN button is clicked
12) The run time will be shown
13) When staining is done, the reagents are removed from the tray.
14) The slide is removed from the slide tray and sent for dehydration(70%, 80%, 95%, absolute alcohol)
15) The slide is cleared, by dipping it into xylene.
16) The slide is mounted.
So far, i have performed two stains manually, without the help of the Nexes Special Stain machine. The stains are PAS and PASD. PAS stain is used to stain carbohydrates. The difference between the two stains is, PASD uses diastase to digest glycogen. This stain is used to differentiate glycogen from other carbohydrates. Under microscopic examination, the tissues stained with PAS will consist of clusters of glycogen, stained dark pink / magenta.
1) The section of interest is fished onto the slide.
2) The slide is heated on the hotplate for 3 minutes.
3) Dewax the slide and bring the sections to water.
4) For PASD stains, treat the sections with thawed diastase for 30 minutes and subsequently, wash the slide with water.
5) For PAS stains, treat it immediately with 1% aqueous periodic acid for 5 mins.
6) Treat the slides with Schiff's reagent for 3 mins, until sections turn light pink.
6) Wash the slides in water
7) Counterstain the nuclei with alum haematoxylin for 1 min.
8) Blue the slides in water
9) Dehydrate the slides by dipping them into 70%, 80%, 95&, absolute alcohol.
10) Clear the slides by dipping them into xylene
11) Mount the slides
PAS stain- note the clusters of magenta
Picture taken from: http://www.path.utah.edu/casepath/PM%20Cases/PMCase6/ALL6_files/image046.jpgNurathirah
0606561I
0606561I
9 comments:
Hi Tira,
Can I know what you mean by 'The Nexes Special Stain machine has optimizes protocols to help ameliorate productivity and consistency.'?
Erm and you mentioned 'The barcode label is keyed in and the protocol of the test required for the slide is chosen.' So meaning you just have to key in the barcode and the machine will automatically choose which protocol to follow and the subsequent staining will be done? Wa .. So good if it's that way. Automation.
That's all. Thanks. =)
Lyn
TG02
Hi,
You mention that the tray in the machine can hold up to 20 slides while the reagent tray can take up to 25 reagents.
So, i m just curious, then lets say you have 20 slides but have to be stain with different stains. So can you load and stain all together all at one time or at every one time, you can only stain slides that uses the same reagent?
Thanks
Xin Yi
TG02
Hello..
What do u mean by 'a temporary protection?' What does the liquid coverslip solution contains that is able to protect the slides?
Thanks!!
Shihui
0607135A
lyn-
it basically means the machine helps in the quality of the stains. since it is a machine, it has been programmed to use a specific and accurate amount of reagents. unlike, when the stain is done manually. due to human errors, consistency is slightly lower.
oh we will have to click on the name of the test we want on the barcode key. then we'll paste the barcode sticker on the slide. the machine will read the barcode and perform the stain.
xin yi-
oh yes, we can do that. for instance, i can perform retic, gms, PAS all at once. all we have to do is simply load all the reagents required for each test! =)
shi hui-
since there are many slides in the machine and sometimes different stains are performed on the slides, a liquid coverslip is used to protect the stain while the slide is still in the machine. it is an oil-based substance which acts just like a coverslip. after the staining in the machine is done, the slides will be dipped into 80% alcohol. this is to remove the liquid coverslip and prepare it for clearing and then, mounting.
=)
hey athirah,
may i know how the machine can have the optimized protocols? is it manually installed? and what if there is a change in the protocol, how do edit those already in the machine?
Also may i know why it has to be put in the order of 70%,80%,95%,absolute alcohol and why not just put it to absolute alcohol?
thanks alot
Liyanah Zaffre
0607718D
TG02
Hihi,
can i ask this machine is used in what area?like which lab?is it histo laboratory?under what conditions you have to do special stains instead of the usual H and E stain?thanks
Rachael
Tg01
liyanah-
yes, it is installed manually and when there is a need to edit it, we can. although by far, no such occurrences have happened. that is for dehydration, that is why we can't go straight to absolute alcohol.
rachael-
it is placed in the histo lab. basically, the special stains are done at the request of the pathologists. there are specimens such as the cornea which will immediately be sectioned and stained with both PAS stain and H&E.
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