Diff-Quik

Diff-Quik is a commercial stain commonly used in histological staining to rapidly stain and differentiate a variety of smears, commonly blood and vaginal smears. It is based on a modification of the Wright Giemsa stain pioneered by Bernard Witlin in 1970. It has advantages over the older Wright Giemsa staining technique, as it reduces the 4 minute process into a simplified 15 second operation, and allows for selective increased eosinophilic or basophilic staining depending upon the time the smear is left in the staining solutions.

Components

The Diff-Quik stain consists of 3 solutions:
*Diff-Quik fixative reagent
**Triarylmethane dye
**Methanol
*Diff-Quik solution I (eosinophilic)
**Xanthene dye
**pH buffer
**Sodium azide
*Diff-Quik solution II (basophilic)
**Thiazine dye
**pH buffer

Results

Alternatives

*Papanicolaou stain
*Wright Giemsa stain
*Romanowsky staining