Methodology for use of Congo red

The sections were deparrafinized and hydrated to distilled water. A working solution of Congo red was then used to stain them for 10 minutes.

After rinsing in distilled water, they were differentiated quickly in an alkaline solution.

They were then rinsed in tap water and counterstained with in Gill’s hematoxylin in 30 minutes.

Tap water was used to rinse the solutions before being dipped in a solution of ammonia until they had to change to blue.

They were rinsed in tap water for 5 minutes and dehydrated through 95% and 100% alcohol.

They were then cleared in xylene and mount with a mounting medium.

The slide was then observed under a light microscope.

Results

The results reveal that the uterus fibroid has cytoplasm, keratins and erythrocytes that appear red when stained using Masson’s trichrome. Collagen appears blue whereas the nuclei are black. The control uterus appeared to be pinkish red in its components with the cytoplasm appearing pink red whereas the nuclei had a blue – black colour. On the other hand, the spleen tissue had its nuclei appearing pale pink while its amyloid and elastic tissues appeared colorless. The slides of the experiment are shown below