New staining techniques for the Langerhans cell

Abstract

Three new techniques are described for staining the Langerhans cell in whole mounts of fresh human and guinea pig epidermis. These employ paraphenylenediamine, gold sodium thiomalate and cobalt chloride, respectively, and require appropriate epidermal separation with EDTA, ammonium thiocyanate or sodium bromide. Used in conjunction with a modified adenosine triphosphatase stain, these techniques provide greater capability for observing the Langerhans cell in disease states than can be achieved by any single stain. A combined stain with adenosine triphosphate and gold is also described.