Hexamine Silver Stain is a classic method for displaying basement membranes, after Grocott's modification the tissue is oxidized by chromic acid to expose the aldehyde groups of the mucopolysaccharides within the fungus, the aldehyde groups reduce the hexamine silver to black metallic silver, gold chloride transforms the metallic silver into a more stable metallic gold while making the background clearer, and seawave fixes and washes away the unreduced silver ions.

This hexamine-silver staining solution method uses hematoxylin for restaining (or you can add your own eosin counterstain as needed), and shows Pneumocystis carinii, Aspergillus, and Candida albicans very well, allowing you to see the relationship between the cysts or fungi and the surrounding tissues.