Which control tissue is used for Gordon & Sweet's staining?

• A. Spleen or liver
• B. Grey matter
• C. Aorta or skin
• D. Known amyloid slide

Answer: (A)

Gordon & Sweet’s stain is a silver stain used to visualize reticular fibers (reticulin) in tissue. To ensure the staining procedure is working, you need a positive control tissue that naturally contains a dense reticular network. The spleen and liver fit this requirement because both have abundant reticular fibers in their stroma, making them ideal controls to confirm that the silver impregnation and subsequent steps produce the expected dark reticular framework.

Other tissues like grey matter, aorta, or skin don’t provide the same robust reticular network, so they aren’t as reliable as controls for this stain. A known amyloid slide would be used as a control for amyloid-specific stains, not for Gordon & Sweet’s reticular fiber stain.