Difference Between Harris and Mayer’s Haematoxylin

The key difference between Harris and Mayer’s haematoxylin is that Harris haematoxylin is used in regressive staining while Mayer’s haematoxylin is used in progressive staining.

Haematoxylin is a basic dye that is commonly used in histopathology. It is a natural dye extracted from the tree Haematoxylon campechianum. It is a dark blue or purple colour dye. Haematoxylin allows the demonstration of microscopic nuclear details of cellular and tissue components. This dye is positively charged, hence, binds with negatively charged substances such as DNA and RNA and stains them in violet colour. Haematoxylin requires a mordant to help the linking with the tissue components. A mordant is a chemical, especially a salt of aluminum, iron, tungsten, which facilitates the linking of a dye to the tissue component.

Based on mordants they contain, there are several types of haematoxylins available. Some of them are Ehrlich’s, Mayer’s, Harris’, Gill’s, Delafield’s, Cole’s and Carazzi’s haematoxylins. Both Harris’ and Mayer’s haemoxylin formulations are aluminium-based mordant haematoxylins.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Harris Haematoxylin
3. What is Mayer’s Haematoxylin
4. Similarities Between Harris and Mayer’s Haematoxylin
5. Side by Side Comparison – Harris vs Mayer’s Haematoxylin in Tabular Form
6. Summary

What is Harris Haematoxylin?

Harris haematoxylin is a basic dye which is commonly used regressively in histology labs for routine H and E staining. Harris haematoxylin uses aluminium as its mordant in order to link with the tissue components. During regressive staining, the tissue is over-stained with Harris haematoxylin. Therefore, it requires differentiation with dilute acid alcohol.

Harris haematoxylin has a high concentration of haematoxylin. Hence, it rapidly diffuses over the entire cell. Harris haematoxylin stains the nuclei in dark violet-blue.

What is Mayer’s Haematoxylin?

Mayer’s haematoxylin is a basic dye used in progressive staining. It takes 5 to 10 minutes for staining. Similar to Harris haematoxylin, Mayer’s haematoxylin is an aluminium-based mordant haematoxylin. Therefore, it uses aluminium as its mordant in order to link with the tissue component.

Mayer’s haematoxylin stain has a low concentration of haematoxylin.  Hence, it slowly and selectively stains chromatin. It does not require differentiation to remove excess stain. Moreover, Mayer’s haematoxylin solutions are fairly tolerant of minor variations in the application time.

What are the Similarities Between Harris and Mayer’s Haematoxylin?

• Harris and Mayer’s Haematoxylin are two types of haematoxylins classified according to the mordant they contain.
• They are natural dyes extracted from a plant.
• Both are aluminium-based mordant haematoxylins.
• In fact, they are nuclear stains.
• They colour nuclei in blue.
• They are most often used for routine staining in histology and histopathology.
• Their stability is high.
• These aluminium based haematoxylins are more practical for extended use.

What is the Difference Between Harris and Mayer’s Haematoxylin?

The key difference between Harris and Mayer’s haematoxylin is their use. Harris haematoxylin is used in regressive staining while Mayer’s haematoxylin is used in progressive staining. Harris haematoxylin has a high concentration of haematoxylin. Therefore, it rapidly diffuses over the entire cell. Mayer’s haematoxylin stain, on the other hand, has a low concentration of haematoxylin.  Hence, it slowly and selectively stains chromatin.

Below infographic tabulates more differences between Harris and Mayer’s haematoxylin.

Summary – Harris vs Mayer’s Haematoxylin

Haematoxylin is the most popular used dye in histology. Therefore, this stain is commonly used for routine histological examination of tissue components. Harris haematoxylin and Mayer’s haematoxylin are two alum haematoxylin solutions. Both stain nuclei in dark blue colour. Harris haematoxylin is used in regressive staining while Mayer’s haematoxylin is used in progressive staining. Harris haematoxylin rapidly over-stain the tissue, hence requires differentiation to remove excess stain. Mayer’s haemoxylin does not over-stain the tissue. Thus, this summarizes the difference between Harris and Mayer’s haematoxylin.

Reference:

1.” Haematoxylin – the Story of the Blues.” Viapath, Available here.
2. “Routine H &Amp; E”. Slideshare.Net, 2020, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Hematoxylin – violets” By PW31 – Own work (CC BY 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Haematoxylin powder”By Waughd – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia