Journal of Pakistan Association of Dermatologists 2008; 18: 167-170.

Review Article Eponymous laboratory stains in dermatology Khalid M. Al Aboud*, Pahwa Manish**, V. Ramesh**

Dermatology Department, King Faisal Hospital, Makkah, Saudi Arabia*, Safdarjang Hospital & VM Medical College, New Delhi, India**.

An eponym is the name of a person, whether many specialties, and thus makes reading real or fictitious, which has or is thought to interesting. The recent comprehensive have given rise to the name of a particular review published in this journal by Bari and place, tribe, era, discovery or substances.1,2 Farooq stimulated us to write this Notwithstanding debates about their communication that elaborates more on the continuing use in medical literature.3,4 eponymous laboratory stains used in Eponyms,describing stains used in dermatology and highlights those whose pathology are less affected by changes observations have led to better delineation of overtime and their uses are still in vogue.5 pathogenesis of the disease leading to The history of such persons is diverse, often correct diagnosis.

Address for correspondence Dr. Khalid Al Aboud, M.D, P.O Box 5440 Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Tel: 00966 2 5566411, Fax: 00966 2 5563523/5574350, E-mail: [email protected]

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Table 1 Different stains, their uses and principle of . Eponym Main use Principle Other applications/remarks Giemsa stain Gustav Demonstration of A mixture of and prepared Giemsa stain is a classical stain.5Also a Giemsa, German parasites, e.g. from a powder. It attaches to regions of DNA where differential stain used to study the adherence of pathogenic chemist (1867-1948)6 , there are high amounts of -thymine bonding. to human cells. Also used in Wolbach's tissue stain. Trypanosoma and It is used in Giemsa banding, commonly called G- In 1904 Giemsa published an essay on the staining Chlamydia. banding, to stain and often to create a procedure for flagellates, blood cells, and bacteria. Giemsa . It can identify chromosomal aberrations improved the ( and methylene such as translocations and interchanges. blue) by stabilizing this dye solution with glycerol. This allowed for reproducible staining of cells for purposes.

Gram’s stain, Hans Distinguishes bacteria The technique developed in 1884, is an empirical The method is still of great use though Gram had modestly Christian Gram, into Gram-positive and method of differentiating bacterial species into two remarked during his time, "I have published the method, Danish bacteriologist Gram-negative. large groups (Gram-positive and Gram-negative) although I am aware that as yet it is very defective and (1853-1938)7 based on the chemical and physical properties of imperfect; but it is hoped that also in the hands of other their cell walls. investigators it will turn out to be useful."

Leishmans stain8,9 Used in microscopy for It is based on a mixture of methylene blue and eosin. Leishman also helped elucidate the life cycle of Lieutenant- General staining blood smears. It is similar to and partially replaceable with Giemsa Spirochaeta duttoni, which causes African tick fever, and, Sir William Boog It is used to stain, Jenner's stain, and identical to Wright's stain. with Almroth Wright, helped develop an effective anti- Leishman, Scottish differentiate and Like them, it is a version of Romanowsky stain typhoid inoculation. pathologist and British identify leucocytes, In 1901, while examining pathologic specimens of a Army medical officer malarial parasites, and spleen from a patient who had died of kala azar he (1865 -1926). trypanosomas. observed oval bodies and published his account of them in 1903. Charles Donovan of the Indian Medical Service independently found such bodies in other kala azar patients, and they are now known as Leishman-Donovan bodies, and recognized as the protozoan which causes kala azar, Leishmania donovani..9

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Cont… Eponym Main use Principle Other Applications/Remarks Wade- Fite stain10,11 Technique for Modification of the Ziehl-Neelsen method Wade was the founding editor of the International Journal Herbert Windsor Wade demonstration of of Leprosy. (1886-1968) & Dr. leprosy bacillus George Liddle Fite (1933-1993) American pathologists

Wright’s stain12, James It is used in the A technique in that makes the differences Wright's stain is also used in to stain Homer Wright (1869- examination of between cells visible under light microscopy. chromosomes on slides for visualization and diagnosis of 1928), American peripheral blood smears syndromes and disease.12 It is named for James Homer pathologist and Wright, who devised the stain, a modification of the aspirates. Romanowsky stain,13 in 1902. There are related stains known as the buffered Wright stain, the Wright-Giemsa stain, and the buffered Wright-Giemsa stain.

Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) To identify acid-fast It is based on capacity of mycobacteria to take up Modified later as Wade-Fite stain (vide supra) stain14, named after organisms strong phenol-dye solutions; organisms stain Frank Ziehl (1857- magenta and the background blue. 1926) a German bacteriologist & Friedrich Nelson (1854-1894) German Pathologist

169 Journal of Pakistan Association of Dermatologists 2008; 18: 167-170.

References

1. Bari A, Farooq M. Eponymous 9. Charles Donovan. Wikipedia® dermatology: an overview. J Pak Assoc [Internet]. St. Peterberg: Wikimedia Dermatol 2007; 17: 250-8. Foundation. [Updated 2007 Oct 3; cited 2. Al Abound K, Al Hawsawi K, Ramesh V 2008 Jan 10]. Available from: et al. Eponyms in dermatology. Skinmed http://en.wikipedia.org/ 2004; 3: 11-2. wiki/Charles_Donovan. 3. Whitworth JA. Should eponyms be 10. Dr Herbert Windsor Wade. From global abandoned? No. BMJ 2007; 335: 425. project on the history of leprosy. 4. Woywodt A, Matteson E. Should [Internet]. Geneva: ILA Global Project eponyms be abandoned? Yes. BMJ 2007; on the History of Leprosy. © 2006. [the 335: 424. date of the last modification of this page 5. Coleman R. The long-term contribution is not mentioned; cited 2008 Jan 10]. of dyes and stains to histology and Available from: . Acta Histochem 2006; http://www.leprosyhistory. org/cgi- 108: 81-3. bin/showdetails.pl 6. Gustav Giemsa. Wikipedia® [Internet]. 11. Fite GL, Fite CW..Dye adsorption by St. Peterberg: Wikimedia Foundation. mycobacteria. Int J Lepr 1965; 33: 324- [Updated 2007 Aug 24; cited 2008 Jan 41. 10]. Available from: 12. James Homer Wright. Wikipedia® http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Gie [Internet]. St. Peterberg: Wikimedia msa. Foundation. [Updated 2007 Dec 29; cited 7. William Boog Leishman. Wikipedia® 2008 Jan 10]. Available from: [Internet]. St. Peterberg: Wikimedia http://en.wikipedia. Foundation. [Updated 2007 Jul 5; cited org/wiki/James_Homer_Wright 2008 Jan 10]. Available from: 13. Romanowsky stain. Wikipedia® http://en.wikipedia. [Internet]. St. Peterberg: Wikimedia org/wiki/William_Boog_Leishman Foundation. [Updated 2007 Oct 21; cited 8. William Boog Leishman. Wikipedia® 2008 Jan 10]. Available from: [Internet]. St. Peterberg: Wikimedia http://en.wikipedia. Foundation. [Updated 2007 Jul 5; cited org/wiki/Romanowsky_stain. 2008 Jan 10]. Available from: 14. Ziehl-Neelsen stain. Wikipedia® http://en.wikipedia. [Internet]. St. Peterberg: Wikimedia org/wiki/William_Boog_Leishman. Foundation. [Updated 2007 Dec 31; cited 2008 Jan 10]. Available from: at;http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Ziehl- Neelsen_stain.

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