All About Being a Histotechnologist – Part One
Histology is the study of examining the microscopic anatomy of cells within a slide under a light microscope or an electron microscope. The tissue in the slides is much easier for to examine when it is stained with histological stains. Histotechnologists prepare slides and stain them so the cells within can be more easily seen. There are many different ways that a slide can be prepared, but some of the main steps are usually the same.
There are several steps that must be completed before a tissue sample can be stained. First, a histotechnologist must use fixatives to keep the tissue from degrading and to maintain the cell structures and their organelles. The most used fixative a histotechnologist uses for light microscopy is 10% neutral buffered formalin, which is formaldehyde in saline. For electron microscopy the most common fixative a histotechnologist uses is glutaraldehyde. These fixatives work by cross linking proteins in the cells.
Tissue must be supported in a hard matrix by a histotechnologist so that thin section can be cut out of it. The first step a histotechnologist must follow is to remove the water from the tissue. A histotechnologist does this by bathing the tissue in ethanol. Next, the alcohol must be removed using xylene. Then, paraffin wax is used to replace the xylene. However, paraffin wax isn’t hard enough to allow for the cutting of thin slices with electron microscopy, so resins are used in those cases.
Check back soon for part two of this blog.
Find a job as a histotechnologist.
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