Morphology of Blood Cells on a Peripheral Blood Smear using Alternative Dye of Jamblang Extract (Syzigium cumini)

Abstract

Giemsa stain is one of the synthetic stains consisting of eosin and blue methylene that are useful for staining cells. However, the use of synthetic stain turns out to have several drawbacks, some of which are not eco-friendly, quite expensive and harmful to health. Therefore, there was a need of alternative coloring that is natural, more eco-friendly, inexpensive, and especially not harmful to health. This study used alternative dye, jamblang ethanol extract (Syzigium cumini), containing anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are a class of organic chemical compounds that could dissolve in polar solvents, and were responsible for giving orange, red, purple, blue, and black colors in higher plants such as flowers, fruits, seeds, vegetables and tubers. The results of this study indicated that Giemsa stain contained eosin and blue methylene so that while in use, it could produce blood cells such as erythrocytes, leukocytes and platelets whose appearance was clear under a microscope. Meanwhile, jamblang ethanol extract stain contains acidic anthocyanins so that this staining can only stain blood cells in the form of erythrocytes, if the leukocytes and platelets could not be stained properly due to leukocytes and platelets having acidic cell nuclei. Therefore, it can be concluded that the staning of Giemsa has a better quality than that of jamblang ethanol extract, but jamblang extract can be used as an alternative stain from Giemsa to indicate erythrocyte cells.