Section preparation of human marrow for light microscopy.

Preparation of human marrow sections has been studied systematically in order to facilitate accurate identification of marrow cells. Both of the methods developed involve embedding marrow cores in methyl methacrylate. In one, acrolein fixation is followed by staining of deplasticized sections with eosine-y followed by azure II; in the other, neutrophilic forms are identified by their esterase-specific reactivity in marrow fixed with neutral-buffered formalin. These preparations are suitable for quantitative studies of marrow cellularity.