In the field of tissue staining, there is a type of stain generally referred to as a Romanowsky stain. Romanowsky is generally credited with the discovery of the unique staining effects of thiazin and eosin dyes on blood in 1891. D. Romanowsky (1891) Zur Frage der Parisitologie und Therapie der Malaria, St Petersb. Med. Wschr. 16, 297-302, and D. Romanowsky (1891) Zur Frage der Parisitologie und Therapie der Malaria, St Petersb. Med. Wschr 16, 307-15. Since that time, many variations of Romanowsky staining have been proposed and created. See, e.g., P. N. Marshall, Romanowsky-Type Stains in Hematology, Histochem. J. 10, 1-29 (1978). Modern methods also include those developed by James Wright in the U.S. and Gustav Giemsa in Europe. Combination stains, known as the Wright-Giemsa and May-Grünwald-Giemsa (Pappenheim) stains, are also now widely used, and generally employ mixtures of thiazin and eosin dyes.
The present disclosure provides methods for carrying out Romanowsky-type stains, specifically Wright-Giemsa stains and May-Grünwald stains, quickly and efficiently. The methods provided herein greatly reduce the overall amount of time required to complete a Wright-Giemsa stain or a May-Grünwald stain of sufficient quality on a biological sample. The subject methods can be applied to manual as well as automated staining procedures.