Distribution of HBs antigen in livers revealed by orcein staining

We used the orcein staining method to study the homogeneity of the distribution of HBsAG in complete frontal liver sections from 115 cases with hepatoma, cirrhosis and other liver diseases. The distribution of orcein-positive hepatocytes was usually uniform in non-cancerous liver. In 86% of orcein-positive cases the pattern was homogeneous.