When HE's the Gold Standard of Tissue Staining😍
Thanks everyone for the great article suggestions! Was a bit burnt out this week for no good reason (I probably need to go outside), so I'm not writing about anything adventurous. Will likely regain brain function next week, and I'll start doing requests. Keep 'em coming though. Thanks <3
The hematoxylin and eosin (H&E or HE) stain is a common histological staining method used to visualize different cells / cellular parts. Hematoxylin is a basic dye, which means it binds acidic things (it's acidophilic). Conversely, eosin is an acidic basophilic dye, which means it binds basic things.
Cells and their components can similarly be characterized as either acid- or basophilic. Thus, the H&E stain provides specific visualization capability for certain parts of cells. For example, the nucleus of eukaryotic cells are stained purple by hematoxylin dye. The darkness of purple is correlated to the amount of genetic material (nucleic acids) within the nucleus. Acid- and basophilicity of cell parts can be determined by the stain color; purple regions are basophilic due to binding the basic hematoxylin, while pink regions are acidophilic/eosinophilic due to binding the acidic eosin.
There are also cells that don't bind eosin or hematoxylin. These cells are chromophobic. In a H&E stained image, these cells are clear, other than their nucleus (which still houses nucleic acids, so still stains purple).
The H&E stain is helpful to diagnose cancers from tissue sections because it makes cells and cell types clear to see. For example, eosinophilic leukemia is characterized by a high number of eosinophils (a kind of leukocyte) in blood, which stain pink (as the name would suggest). This can be diagnosed/confirmed through a H&E stain on blood cells.
Spot the eosinophil.
Various other abnormalities/cancers can be detected by a H&E stain. It's pretty useful.
Learn more about H&E and its applications/methods below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%26E_stain - we love wikipedia.
https://www.leicabiosystems.com/us/knowledge-pathway/he-staining-overview-a-guide-to-best-practices/ - goes in-depth into various pathologies that can be detected by H&E staining.
https://medcell.org/histology/endocrine_systems_lab/anterior_pituitary.php - application of H+E stain analysis to anterior pituitary histology. Acidophilic and basophilic cells are functionally different and secrete different hormone products. Random but cool.
