Improved gold chloride procedure for nerve staining in whole mounts of rat corneas

The purpose of this study was to modify the gold chloride procedure for studies of total innervation in corneal whole mounts to provide a decrease in nonspecific background staining and to eliminate the progressively deteriorating stain quality of standard gold chloride techniques. Modifications included use of cryoprotective agents, mechanical removal of Descemet's membrane-endothelium complex prior to fixation, treatment with alpha amylase, and halting the reduction of gold chloride to metallic gold using Kodak rapid fixer with hardener. Rat corneas were stored at -70 C in O.C.T. compound. The Descemet's membrane-endothelium complex was removed after thawing, and corneas were fixed in 4% NaPO4-buffered paraformaldehyde with 8% sucrose. Fixed corneas were incubated in NaPO4-buffered saline containing alpha amylase, placed in 100% lemon juice, then in 1% gold chloride solution, transferred to glacial acidic acid, placed in rapid fixer, rinsed in NaPO4-buffered saline, and dehydrated in graded alcohols. Flat mounts of whole corneas were examined using contralateral corneas as controls. Freezing corneas in O.C.T. compound, removal of the Descemet's membrane-endothelium complex, and treatment with alpha amylase reduced non-specific background staining compared to controls. Treatment with Kodak rapid fixer prevented the deterioration of staining quality for at least 8 months. These improvements allow the gold chloride technique to be used with immunohistochemical procedures where the reaction products would be obscured by background staining.