[Feulgen and Rossenbeck staining using a microwave oven for quantification of DNA by image analysis]

A domestic microwave oven was used to modify the Feulgen staining procedure in order to speed up the preparation of cytopathologic smears for the quantification of cell DNA in image analysis. This simple technique needs some precautions concerning the temperature, the hydrolysis time and the position of staining dishes inside the oven must be taken in order to get reproducible results. Thereafter, the conventional staining time can be reduced to 30%. This technique can be applied to cytopathologic smears from various tissues: bladder, prostate, breast, ovary.