Leishman's stain, also Leishman stain, is used in microscopy

Microscopy

Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view samples and objects that cannot be seen with the unaided eye...

 for staining blood smears. It provides excellent stain quality. It is generally used to differentiate and identify leucocyte

Leucocyte

Leucocyte may refer to:*White blood cells*Leucocyte , a 2008 album by the jazz band E.S.T....

s, malaria

Malaria

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

 parasites, and trypanosoma

Trypanosoma

Trypanosoma is a genus of kinetoplastids , a monophyletic group of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa. The name is derived from the Greek trypano and soma because of their corkscrew-like motion. All trypanosomes are heteroxenous and are transmitted via a vector...

s. It is based on a mixture of methylene blue

Methylene blue

Methylene blue is a heterocyclic aromatic chemical compound with the molecular formula C16H18N3SCl. It has many uses in a range of different fields, such as biology and chemistry. At room temperature it appears as a solid, odorless, dark green powder, that yields a blue solution when dissolved in...

 and eosin

Eosin

Eosin is a fluorescent red dye resulting from the action of bromine on fluorescein. It can be used to stain cytoplasm, collagen and muscle fibers for examination under the microscope. Structures that stain readily with eosin are termed eosinophilic....

.

Leishman stain uses a methanol

Methanol

Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical with the formula CH3OH . It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable liquid with a distinctive odor very similar to, but slightly sweeter than, ethanol...

 solution of staining dye

Dye

A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....

s. 7-10 drops is applied to the slide with the specimen. After 5 minutes, 10-15 drops of a buffer solution

Buffer solution

A buffer solution is an aqueous solution consisting of a mixture of a weak acid and its conjugate base or a weak base and its conjugate acid. It has the property that the pH of the solution changes very little when a small amount of strong acid or base is added to it. Buffer solutions are used as a...

 (a Gurr buffer is used, pH 6.8) is added and mixed with the stain, then the specimen is left staying for 20–30 minutes, then washed off with the buffer solution.

Leishman stain is named after its inventor, the Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 pathologist William Boog Leishman

William Boog Leishman

Lieutenant-General Sir William Boog Leishman FRS was a Scottish pathologist and British Army medical officer. He was Director-General of Army Medical Services from 1923 to 1926....

. It is similar to and partially replaceable with Giemsa stain

Giemsa stain

Giemsa stain, named after Gustav Giemsa, an early German microbiologist, is used in cytogenetics and for the histopathological diagnosis of malaria and other parasites.-Uses:...

, Jenner's stain

Jenner's stain

Jenner's Stain is used in microscopy for staining blood smears....

, and identical to Wright's stain

Wright's stain

Wright's stain is a histologic stain that facilitates the differentiation of blood cell types. It is used primarily to stain peripheral blood smears and bone marrow aspirates which are examined under a light microscope...

. Like them, it is a version of Romanowsky stain

Romanowsky stain

Romanowsky staining is a prototypical staining technique that was the forerunner of several distinct but similar methods, including Giemsa, Jenner, Wright, Field, and Leishman stains, which are used to differentiate cells in pathologic specimens....

.