A New Technic for Differential Staining of the Sex Chromatin, and the Determination of Its Incidence in Exfoliated Vaginal Epithelial Cells

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Abstract
A new technic is described which, for the first time, yields true differential staining of the sex chromatin body, based on the use of biebrich scarlet and fast green FCF as nuclear dyes. The sex chromatin body is clearly stained red and contrasted with the remainder of the nuclear chromatin which is stained green. This is the only method that differentiates the sex chromatin from other heterochromatin granules. The technic is compared with other methods in current use. Precornified epithelial cells in vaginal smears reveal sex chromatin bodies in 97 to 98% of the vesicular nuclei by this method when compared to the methods using hematoxylin and eosin, cresyl echt violet, and thionin, which revealed a much lower incidence owing to difficulties in identification. It is demonstrated that vaginal epithelium is the best source for the study of sex chromatin bodies in the determination of genetic sex in women, and should be preferred in all instances where available.