What staining method is commonly used for staining and counting reticulocytes?

The commonly used method for staining and counting reticulocytes is supravital staining. This technique allows for the assessment of living cells, making it ideal for examining reticulocytes, which are immature red blood cells containing residual RNA. Supravital staining highlights the reticular network of RNA within these cells, enabling a clear visual differentiation from mature erythrocytes.

In practice, the reticulocyte count provides valuable information about bone marrow activity and red blood cell production, especially in conditions such as anemia or during recovery from acute blood loss.

This method stands apart from others, such as immunofluorescence, which is typically used for detecting specific antigens within cells rather than counting them, or Romanowsky staining, mainly employed for staining blood smears to visualize various types of blood cells, without the specific focus on reticulocyte counts. Cytochemical staining can also target specific cell components, but it is not the preferred method for reticulocyte analysis in standard practice.