AN IMPROVED (PARAFFIN SECTION) METHOD FOR THE DOPA REACTION

Abstract

Progress in dermatologic histopathology has been meager during the past one or two decades. There have been a few reports of apparently new conditions, and a few refinements in preexisting methods have been introduced. The greatest advance in routine methods of fixation and staining was made by Masson,¹ who succeeded in modernizing the methods of fixation and staining for dermatologic material. As he stated, fixation in formaldehyde and staining with hematoxylin and eosin are not sufficient for cytologic study. The greatest special progress in dermatopathologic study has been made in the study of pigment. Introduction of the silver method and especially Bloch's dopa reaction have made possible a rational evaluation of normal and pathologic pigmentary processes. Studies of the dopa reaction have been made by Bloch,² Miescher,³ Becker,⁴ Peck,⁵ von Albertini and Walthard,⁶ Laidlaw⁷ and many others. Some of the difficulties in the