The Relationship of Slide Maturity and Trypsin Exposure Time in the Differential Giemsa Banding of Chromosomes

Difficulty has been reported in attaining consistent chromosome banding using trypsin-Giemsa techniques. When trypsin concentration, incubation temperature, and the duration of staining are held constant, a logarithmic relationship has been found to exist between the length of time since a slide was made and the length of trypsin treatment necessary to produce optimal banding when it is stained. Under the conditions specified in this report, ten seconds digestion was optimal for ten-day-old slides. This time approximately doubled for each additional eight days that slides were allowed to age. From a plot of the experimental results, treatment times appropriate for slides of any age from 10 to 60 days were obtained. Use of these times produced satisfactory banding in 85% of mitoses.