Bleached vegetable oil as a suitable bio-safe alternative to xylene: An exploratory study

Background: Xylene is used as a clearing and dewaxing agent during routine tissue processing in histopathology laboratories. Despite its excellent clearing property, xylene is associated with adequate amount of toxicity. Therefore, various substitutes for xylene such as mineral oil and vegetable oil mixtures have been explored and are well documented in English literature. Aims and Objectives: This study had aimed at assessing the efficacy of bleached vegetable oil as a clearing and a dewaxing agent. The objectives were to compare the clearing ability of bleached vegetable oil with that of xylene. Materials and Methods: A total of 12 normal oral mucosal samples (n = 12) were cut into pairs forming two groups Group A tissues (n = 12) were processed in xylene and Group B tissues (n = 12) were processed in bleached vegetable (palm) oil. The parameters such as transparency of the tissues, nuclear and cytoplasmic staining were assessed between the two groups. Results: Tissues from both the study groups were transparent and had yielded good serial sections; adequate nuclear and cytoplasmic staining was observed in 91.7% of sections treated with bleached palm oil. Conclusion: Bleached vegetable oil may be used as a safer substitute for xylene in tissue processing.