International Journal of Anatomical Sciences 2014, 5(1): 11-16

Research Article

Demonstration of Hippocampal Neurons Using Golgi-Cox and Rapid-Golgi Staining Methods – A Report on Their Practical Implications

Ganesh L, Karthik Ganesh M, Anuradha M, Venkata Lakshmi N, Dinesh P, Sakthi Jothi M, Khayinmi WS, Prakash S.

Department of Anatomy, Dr. Arcot Lakshmanasamy Mudaliar Postgraduate Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Madras, Taramani Campus, Chennai 600 113, India.

Key words : Neuro histology, Golgi Cox, Rapid Golgi, Neuron Staining

Abstract: Golgi staining is one of the unique staining procedures to study the morphology of a complete neuron. Random selectivity of only a few neurons to get stained of all the neurons is one of the intriguing facts of this staining method. This empirical randomness questions the veracity of this procedure. To add to this, there are many recipes available to do this procedure. Hence confusions prevail over which method to follow to get a reliable and reproducible Golgi technique of neuronal staining. Present study took the two most popular methods to analyze as follows: A. Rapid-Golgi method (unfixed tissue-immersion fixation) which uses silver nitrate as the base chemical to form the black stain over the neuronal cells. B. Rapid-Golgi method with perfusion fixed tissue and C. Golgi-Cox method using mercuric chloride as the base chemical to form the black staining over neurons. These methods were tried on one of the complex neuronal region of brain i.e. hippocampus. It is observed that Golgi-Cox method seem to give more reliable and appreciable results when compared to that of Rapid-Golgi method.