Comparative staining of Rhinolophus spp. white blood cells in blood smears

BACKGROUND AND AIM: A drawback of studies on bat blood smears in the field is the lack of time for fixation because blood sampling using a non-lethal method often provides less time for fixation in smear preparations due to the small volume of blood collected. Usually, there is insufficient blood for another smear preparation, so it is necessary to use blood smears as rationally as possible, especially for rare bats. Many stains are used for staining peripheral blood smears, and they have advantages and disadvantages. This study aimed to examine commonly used stains for blood smears to select the best stain for staining peripheral blood smears in bats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, 48 blood smears of Rhinolophus spp. bats were examined using several blood staining methods. Four methods that showed the best results were used in further experiments: Romanowsky-Giemsa, Pappenheim, hematoxylin-eosin, and eosin methylene blue. RESULTS: Comparative analysis of different methods for staining bat blood smears revealed that the most convenient method for analyzing blood cells is Pappenheim method. CONCLUSION: Staining blood smears using Pappenheim method yield the least number of unsuccessful blood smear stains and are quite effective for the morphological analysis of blood cells.