Modified lead hematoxylin-tartrazine yellow stain highlights changes in aortic wall after balloon angioplasty

ABSTRACT

Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) has been traditionally used to highlight the morphology of elastic arteries. An alternative staining procedure, lead hematoxylin-tartrazine yellow (LHTY), will be compared with H&E to evaluate its depiction of various layers in rat aortic wall. Sliced aortic rings, from 1-year-old male Sprague–Dawley rats that had undergone balloon angioplasty, were harvested at 1 day, 7 days, and 14 days after this procedure. Stained sections of specimen rings were evaluated to determine the effects on cellular components and extracellular matrix of various sublayers in the three aortic tunics. In contrast to H&E, the LHTY staining was found to clearly differentiate sublayers of the tunica intima from the tunica media. In addition, the elastic lamellar bands in the tunica media were especially demarcated to provide greater visibility for obtaining measurable indices (such as thickness). Moreover, LHTY-stained rings clearly depicted connective tissue elements within the intervening sublayers of tunica media. The contrast provided by two dyes of LHTY enhanced the appearance of the myofibrillar texture of interlamellar zones and thickness of bands. On the other hand, the nuclei of the smooth muscle cells were somewhat more discernable using H&E staining.

KEYWORDS:

• Angioplasty
• aorta
• histotechnology
• lead hematoxylin-tartrazine yellow
• pathology

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Department of Experimental Pathology at New York Medical College, Valhalla, for providing aortic slices. We also acknowledge Pace University, Pleasantville, NY, for use of the laboratory facilities and Kristine Gukelberger for help with figures. We thank the FASEB Journal for granting permission to use several photomicrographs from a poster we presented at a Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) conference in 2007 [27].

Conflicts of Interest

None

Additional information

Funding

This work was internally supported by the Pace University Scholarly Research Grant [P1021].

Notes on contributors

Charlene F. Blando-Hoegler

Charlene F. Blando-Hoegler, full-time faculty member in the Biology Department of Pace University Pleasantville where she is President of the Pace University Chapter of Sigma Xi (The Scientific Research Society). She is also member of AAA (American Association of Anatomists), ABLE (Association of Biology Laboratory Education), and a recent inductee into the NSH (National Society of Histotechnology). Each year, she teaches Histology/Histopathology to pre-professional, upper-level undergraduates. Dr Hoegler also teaches Microbiology, Environmental Science, and General Biology for majors. She collaborates with her colleague, Dr Carl Hoegler, in research projects for presentations at national meetings (AAA and APS). She takes pleasure in training students interested in conducting research projects.

Since 2007, Carl Hoegler (Professor of Biology) has taught laboratory and lecture courses in Animal Physiology, Developmental Biology, and Anatomy and Physiology at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, NY. Previously, and for over 30 years, he was a Professor of Biology at Marymount College (women’s college) in Tarrytown, NY, which had celebrated 100 years of women’s education before its closing. His teaching style continues to emphasize the inquiry-based collaborative approach, which he proposed in his NSF-funded grant in 2005.