Xylene in Histology Laboratories

Xylene in Histology Laboratories

• Xylene is a colorless clearing agent used for clearing, embedding, and mounting procedures in histology laboratories.
• It takes 1/2 to 1 hour for clearing and is suitable for most routine histologic processing schedules of less than 24 hours and tissue block sizes less than 5 mm in thickness.
• Xylene is reasonably cost-effective and effective for short-term clearing of small tissue blocks.

Uses of Xylene

• It is used as a clearing agent during tissue processing and as a dewaxing agent during staining.
• Xylene is also used in cover slipping, cleaning tissue processors, as a solvent to remove synthetic immersion oil from microscope objectives, and in recycling used slides.

Advantages of Xylene

• It is the most rapid clearing agent, clearing tissues within 15-30 minutes, making it suitable for urgent biopsies.
• Xylene makes tissues transparent and is miscible with absolute alcohol and paraffin.
• It does not extract out aniline dyes and does not dissolve celloidin, making it suitable for celloidin sections.
• Xylene evaporates quickly in paraffin oven and can be readily replaced by wax during impregnation and embedding.
• It is a relatively cheap clearing agent.

Disadvantages of Xylene

• Xylene is highly inflammable and requires special handling and storage procedures.
• If used longer than 3 hours, it makes tissues excessively hard and brittle.
• It causes considerable hardening and shrinkage of tissues, making it unsuitable for nervous tissues and lymph nodes.
• Xylene becomes milky when an incompletely dehydrated tissue is immersed in it.
• It can irritate eyes, nose, and respiratory tract, and can cause dermatitis if absorbed through the skin.

Special Handling Procedures and Storage Requirements

• Keep containers tightly closed to prevent xylene from subliming and entering the atmosphere.
• Use non-sparking tools to handle xylene, and store it in a cool and dry area away from incompatible substances.
• Store xylene in a flammable liquid storage cabinet, and wash hands thoroughly after handling.
• Remove contaminated clothing and wash before reuse, and keep away from heat, sparks, and flames.

Learn about the uses and properties of xylene as a clearing agent in histology laboratories, including its effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in tissue processing.