METHOD FOR REMOVING
MERCURIC CHLORIDE CRYSTALS
FROM TISSUE.
DRAFT COPY ONLY.
(Procedure 21).
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United States Government Work, uncopyrighted, public-domain,
DRAFT COPY ONLY. This document does not necessarily represent the views
or policies of any United States Government agency.
This document is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind,
express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties
of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and
non-infringement. In no event shall the authors be liable
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or in connection with the document or the use or other dealings
made with the document.
See also: Main objectives: 1.
Mercury removal: 22.
PRINCIPLE OF THE TEST.
Treatment of specimens received in a mercury-containing
fixative that were prepared off-site.
SPECIMEN REQUIRED.
All human tissue excised at surgery, outpatient clinics,
and postmortems, fresh or in fixative,
along with a filled-out Tissue Examination Form
(U. S. Standard Form 515, USSF515).
Calcified tissue (bone).
REAGENTS, INSTRUMENTATION.
Clearing agent. Graded alcohols.
Alcoholic iodine solution. 5% sodium thiosulfate.
STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION.
1. Mercury-containing fixatives are not recommended by the
Department of Pathology, and are not distributed or prepared
by the Department of Pathology. Occasionally, a specimen comes
in a mercury-containing fixative that was prepared off-site.
In this case, the following protocol is used to recover mercury.
2. Deparaffinize in clearing agent,
and rehydrate through graded alcohols.
3. Place slides in alcoholic iodine solution for 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Wash in running water.
5. Place in 5% sodium thiosulfate for 2 to 5 minutes,
to bleach out the iodine.
6. Wash thoroughly in running tap water.
7. Proceed to stain.
8. 0.5 g iodine in 80% ethanol.
REFERENCE.
1.
Prophet EB, Mills B, Arrington JB, Sobin LH.
Laboratory Methods in Histotechnology, pp. 71-79.
1992: Armed Forces Institute of Pathology,
Washington, DC. 20306-6000.
ISBN: 1-881041-00-X 1992.