DPX New

Less Hazardous Mounting Medium for Histology

In histology, users are in frequent contact with hazardous reagents. During fixation, histoprocessing, staining and mounting, laboratory technicians and pathologists are surrounded by solvents and solvent-containing solutions. These can cause health problems, as they may, for example, be carcinogenic or teratogenic. Merck has reduced this risk with its new water-free mounting medium DPX new.

No Teratogenic DBP Added

Xylene is a particularly hazardous solvent in laboratories. It is characterized by high evaporation rates, resulting in the typical laboratory odor. Xylene is often used in the dehydration steps during histoprocessing and prior mounting. In combination with xylene, water-free mounting media, such as Entellan® New and DPX, should be used for permanent mounting and long-time storage of samples. With DPX new, Merck now provides an alternative for all users who want to continue working with xylene, although Neo-Clear® and the associated mounting medium Neo-Mount™ already offer an alternative option with significantly lower risks for users. DPX new with its improved formulation, is a further development of the well-established mounting medium DPX. It no longer contains the ingredient Dibutyl phthalate (DBP), which is teratogenic and normally used as plasticizer. Despite this, the refractive index and viscosity of DPX new, as well as its shelf-life are comparable to those of DPX. The color stability of samples mounted with DPX new is also ensured after long storage times, if low-grade solvents are avoided throughout the sample preparation and staining process.