Diff-Quik

Diff-Quik® is a commercial stain commonly used in histological staining to rapidly stain and differentiate a variety of smears, commonly blood and vaginal smears. It is based on a modification of the Wright Giemsa stain pioneered by Bernard Witlin in 1970. It has advantages over the older Wright Giemsa staining technique, as it reduces the 4 minute process into a simplified 15 second operation, and allows for selective increased eosinophilic or basophilic staining depending upon the time the smear is left in the staining solutions.

Components
The Diff-Quik stain consists of 3 solutions:
 * Diff-Quik fixative reagent
 * Triarylmethane dye
 * Methanol
 * Diff-Quik solution I (eosinophilic)
 * Xanthene dye
 * pH buffer
 * Sodium azide
 * Diff-Quik solution II (basophilic)
 * Thiazine dye
 * pH buffer

Alternatives

 * Papanicolaou stain
 * Wright Giemsa stain
 * Romanowsky staining