Staining The Fibrin Network In Blood Smears

Abstract

The following procedure is described: Prepare smears of fresh blood on clean slides and place them immediately in a moist chamber to prevent them from drying. Permit them to remain in the chamber long enough for the blood to coagulate – 6 to 10 minutes. Transfer the slides to distilled water to hemolyze the red blood corpuscles, leaving them in the water until all traces of the red color have disappeared from the smear, when the fibrin network appears as a whitish film on the slide. Stain the network for about 8 minutes in carbol crystal violet (dissolve 0.4 g. of crystal violet in 10 ml. of 95% ethyl alcohol and mix with 100 ml. of distilled water in which is dissolved 1 g. of phenol). Thoroughly dehydrate and clear die fibrin network by passing the slides through three changes of pure dioxane. Mount in euparal and cover with a cover glass.