Eucalyptus Oil And Telon Oil As A Substitute For Xylene (Clearing Agent) Using Mice Liver And Kidney Samples With A Soaking Time Of 45 Minutes

Abstract

Xylene has long been recognized as the standard clearing agent in histopathological tissue processing due to its effectiveness in removing alcohol and promoting paraffin infiltration. Nevertheless, its toxic properties and potential health risks have encouraged the development of safer alternative clearing agents. This study investigated the potential use of cajuput oil and telon oil as substitutes for xylene in processing mouse liver and kidney tissues with a 45-minute clearing period. A true experimental laboratory design was applied, involving three groups: xylene as the control, cajuput oil, and telon oil as the experimental treatments. All tissue samples underwent identical fixation, dehydration, paraffin embedding, sectioning, and Hematoxylin-Eosin staining procedures. Histological quality was evaluated microscopically by assessing nuclear clarity, cytoplasmic staining, and staining uniformity. The findings showed that xylene produced the best overall tissue morphology and staining quality. Cajuput oil yielded satisfactory histological features with relatively clear nuclei and cytoplasm, whereas telon oil demonstrated lower staining performance, particularly in kidney tissues. These results indicate that cajuput oil may serve as a promising and safer alternative to xylene, while further optimization is required before telon oil can be considered for routine histopathological tissue processing.