Cindy,
we do a considerable amount of vessel work, quite a bit in swine.
 historically we have always looked for internal elastica to evaluate the
amount of neo-intimal proliferation and muscle/collagen changes.  to this
end, in addition to an H&E, we always did two seperate stains: a Verhoeff
stain for elastica and a Massons trichrome for the collagen. to minimize
work we simply combined the two stains, later to find out that we had
devised a variation of a stain that is already in the literature. i hope
the reference helps.  did they not reference the stain in the italian paper
you mentioned? hope this is what you are looking for.  i would agree with
Russ that the VG stain could be considered a 3 color stain, but am not sure
about the blue and green he mentioned in his reply (i expect he was
suggesting those colors in other trichrome stains --- if not, maybe he
could provide a reference???). we usually use picric acid for  staining the
muscle component, though as most will agree, thats as non specific for
muscle as other dyes used in trichrome stains.

Regards,
Rob

TITLE:  A combination Verhoeff's elastic and Masson's trichrome stain for
routine histology.
AUTHORS: O'Connor WN; Valle S
SOURCE: Stain Technol 1982 Jul;57(4):207-10
CITATION IDS: PMID: 6183794 UI: 83068364
ABSTRACT: A method for the combined staining of elastic, muscle and
connective tissue for routine use in histopathology is described. The
elastica, stained black by Verhoeff's technique, is contrasted with the
muscle and connective tissue stained red and green or blue respectively by
a modification of Masson's trichrome. Cell nuclei stain blue-black with
Weigert's iron hematoxylin. The procedure takes approximately two hours and
is most suitable for the study of vascular pathology in surgical and
autopsy sections.


Robert S. Geske
Research Associate
Center for Comparative Medicine and Department of Pediatrics
Baylor College of Medicine

-----Original Message-----
From:	Cynthia Tily [SMTP:cynthiatily@mindspring.com]
Sent:	Tuesday, November 02, 1999 4:49 PM
To:	histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
Subject:	trichromic Van Gieson

Hello Everyone,

I have been asked by a client to perform a "trichromic Van Gieson" that he
saw referenced in an Italian paper. He is studying pleurisy in the lungs.
We are familiar with the various trichrome and Van Gieson procedures but
cannot find a reference for the above. Any ideas?

Thank you,
Cindy