Staining Effect of Pomegranate Flower Extract on Human Blood Cells: First Results

Kuşculuo N., Benli H.

JOURNAL OF ENVİRONMENTAL SCİENCE AND ENGİNEERİNG, vol.6, no.5, pp.249-251, 2017 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)

Abstract

Pomegranate flower plant, popularly known using for the treatment of various diseases, was not investigated as a source of
dye for cytological studies using human blood cells. The importance of this study is to appear dyeing result of pomegranate flower
extract on human blood cells. The natural dye source was pomegranate flower known as roselle and potassium aluminum sulfate
(alum = KAlSO412H2O) was used as mordant or metal salt. Distilled water was used as solvent. Fresh, clean and air-dried flowers
were extracted with distilled water at 100 °C for 30 minutes and then filtered. One drop blood from a healthy 20-year woman was
spread as a peripheral on to ten plates and dried at nearly 25 °C. These slides were stained by soaking in pomegranate flower extract
with/without alum (KAlSO412H2O) at 100 °C for 60 minutes. Slides were washed with distilled water, dried and done microscobic
examination. The different blood cells dyed dark orange in alum mordant media at 100 °C. As a result, pomegranate flower has the
capacity to use dyeing human blood cells such as eosinophil, basophil and neutrophil.