histology stains

8/11/2019 Histology Stains

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Histology Stains:

Aldehyde Fuchsin

This histology stain can be used to stain pancreatic islet beta cell granules. This

stains elastic fibers purple/black.

Alician Blue

This histology stain will stain mucins and mucosubstances blue. Copper in the

histology stain is what ultimately is responsible for the blue color. Nuclei will stain

pink/red. Cytoplasm stains a lighter pink. Mucins stain blue.

Alizarin Red S

This histology stain is an anthraquinone derivative. This histology stain can be

may be used to identify calcium in tissue sections.

Alkaline Phosphatase

This histology stain will stain endothelial cells. Sites of alkaline phophatase activity

will appear red. Nuclei will stain blue.

Bielschowsky Stain

Silver is used in this histology staining process. This histology stain shows reticular

fibers. This histology stain is also used for showing neurofibrillary tangles and

senile plaques. Neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques will stain black.

Cajal Stain

This histology stain is used on nervous tissue.


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Congo Red

Congo red histology stain is used to stain amyloid. Amyloid will stain orange/red.

Cresyl Violet

This histology stain is a Nissl stain. Cresyl violet will stain both neurons and glia. It

bonds well with acidic parts of cells such as ribosomes, nuclei and nucleoli. It

stains cell bodies a blue/violet.

Fontana-Masson

This histology stain uses silver. Fontana-Masson stains argentaffin granules and

melanin black. The nucleus will stain pink/red. The cytoplasm will stain light pink.

Gabe Trichrome

A trichrome histology stain is a mixture of three dyes. This histology stain can be

helpful for differentiating cellular from extracellular items.

Giemsa Stain

This is a histology stain for peripheral blood smears and bone marrow. It is also

used to visualize parasites and malaria. This is a Romanowsky type stain.

Methylene blue and eosin are used. Erythrocytes stain pink/red. Platelets andleukocytes stain blue. This micrograph depicts the appearance of a well-stained

slide using the Giemsa staining technique. Note that the acidic components of the

cellular constituents such as the cytoplasm and chromatin, pick up the basic

methylene blue azure compliments of the Giemsa stain, which reveals the

characteristic blue coloration of this stain.

Golgi Stain

This histology stain will stain neurons.

Gomori Trichrome

A trichrome histology stain is a mixture of three dyes. Gomori's trichrome will

stain connective tissue and collagen green or blue. It stains muscle, keratin and

cytoplasm red. Nuclei will stain gray/blue/black.


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Hematoxylin & Eosin

This is a standard histology stain. "H&E" stand for hematoxylin and eosin.

Hematoxylin and eosin stain is used for routine tissue preparation frequently. This

is the most often used combination in the histology lab for general purpose

staining. With an H&E stain, mucus and cartilage will stain a light blue color.

Hematoxylin can be thought of as a basic dye. It binds to acidic structures,

staining them blue to purple. It will bind and stain nucleic acids. Therefore, the

nucleus stains blue.

Eosin is an acid aniline dye. It will bind to and stain basic structures (or negatively

charged structures), such as cationic amino groups on proteins. It stains them

pink. Cytoplasm, muscle, connective tissue, colloid, red blood cells and decalcified

bone matrix all stain pink to pink/orange/red with eosin.

Iron Hematoxylin

This histology stain will stain nuclei bluish/black.

Luna Stain

This histology stain can be used to demonstrate elastin and mast cells. Elastin

fibers and mast cells will stain purple. Nuclei will stain black.

Luxol Fast Blue

This histology stain is the alcohol soluble equivalent of alician blue. Luxol fast blue

is used to demonstrate myelin. It stains myelin blue to blue/green. Neurons stainviolet. Red blood cells stain blue.

Mallory Trichome

A trichrome histology stain is a mixture of three dyes. This histology stain is used

on connective tissue to visualize collagen and reticular fibers.

Masson Trichome

A trichrome histology stain is a mixture of three dyes. This histology stain can be

helpful for differentiating cellular from extracellular items. This histology stain

uses light green, iron hematoxylin, and acid fuchsin. It is useful on connective

tissue.

Collagen fibers stain green or blue with Masson's trichrome stain. Muscle and

keratin will be red. Cytoplasm will be pink to red. Nuclei will be black.


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Movat's Pentachrome Stain

This histology stain is used to visualize connective tissue.

Mucicarmine

Mucicarmine is a histology stain used to see epithelial mucin. It stains it a deep

red.

Nissl Stains

These histology stains are basic dyes. They stain RNA and DNA. It is used to see

Nissl body in neurons. Nissl bodies stain purple/blue.

Nuclear Fast Red

This histology stains nuclei red. The cytoplasm will be unstained or yellow. This

histology slide of the liver tissue stained postive for calcium deposits (stained

black) with Von Kossa and the background is stained with nuclear fast red.

Oil Red O

This is a histology stain used for lipids. Lipids will stain red. Nuclei will stain

blue/black.

Orcein Stain

A histology stain used for elastin fibers.


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Osmium Tetroxide

This histology stain can be used to stain lipids. Collagen and erythrocytes will stain

brown. Myelin and lipids will stain black.

Papanicolaou Stain

This histology stain is used mainly on exfoliated cytological specimens. Cells in

smear preparations can be stained with Pap staining. Gynecological smears (Pap

smears), sputum, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, abdominal fluid, pleural fluid,

synovial fluid, semminal fluid and fine needle aspiration samples can all be

stained with a Pap stain. This staining technique involving five dyes in three

solutions.

Periodic Acid-Schiff (PAS)

This histology stain is particularly useful for staining glycogen and other

carbohydrates, but is useful for many things. It is often used to show glomeruli,

basement membranes, and glycogen in the liver. PAS stains glycogen, mucin,mucoprotein, and glycoproteins magenta. The nuclei will stain blue. Collagen will

stain pink.

Phosphotungstic Acid-Hematoxylin (PTAH)

This histology stain is used to stain striated muscle fibers and mitochondria. They

will stain blue. Nucleus, red blood cells and muscle all will stain blue. Collagen will

stain red. In this histology slide of the tongue, PTAH stains the collagen pink, fibrin

blue, and striated muscle blue as well.

PicroSirius Red (polarized)

When used with polarized light, this is a way to visualize collagen. With polarizedmicroscopy, collagen fibers will be bright yellow or orange and the thinner fibers

will be green.

Prussian Blue

Prussian blue histology stain is used to stain iron (ferric iron and ferritin).

Reticular Fiber Stain

This histology stain uses silver salt. Reticular fibers become black. Sometimes a

counterstain is used.


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Romanowsky Stains

These histology stains are used for blood and bone marrow. Examples of

Romanowsky histology stains include Wright's stain, Giemsa stain and Jenner's

stain. These histology stains are based on a combination of eosin and methylene

blue.

Safranin O

This histology stain will stain mucin, cartilage and mast cells. It stains them

orange/red. Safranin O is sometimes used as a counterstain.

Silver Stain

These histology stains use silver. Argyrphilic tissue has an affinity for silver salts.

The silver salts will be seen in argyrphilic tissues. Silver histology stains are used

to show melanin and retiuclar fibers. Reticular fibers will stain black.

Sudan Stain

Sudan histology stains are used for staining of lipids and phospholipids. Examples

of such histology stains are sudan black, sudan IV, and oil red O.

Tartrazine

This histology stain will stain cytoplasm, cartilage, and red blood cells yellow.

Toludine Blue

This knee joint is stained to show the growth plate in purple.


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Van Gieson

This histology stain is sometimes used in conjunction with iron hematoxylin. This

histology stain can be used to differentiate collagen and smooth muscle.

Cytoplasm and muscle stains brown/yellow. Collagen stains red. Red blood cells

stain yellow. Cartilage stains pink.

Verhoeff Stain

A histology stain used for connective tissue and particularly to see elastic fibers.

Sometimes a counter stain is used. This histology stain is can be useful when

looking at lung tissue and arteries. Elastin will stain a dark brown/black. The

nucleus of cells stains black.

Von Kossa Stain

This histology stain is a silver reduction method used to visualize calcium and

calcium deposits. Here the chondrocytes in the growth plate are staining black.

Wright's Stain

This histology stain is used for blood smears and bone marrow smears.

This histology stain uses a blend of basic dyes, such as methylene blue derivatives

and acid dyes, such as eosin.

Red blood cells stain reddish/pink. Eosinophilic granules will be a bright

orange/red. The nucleus of white blood cells will stain purple. Basophilic granules

will stain blue/black. Neutrophilic granules stain pale brown. Platelets stain

purple. The cytoplasm of lymphocytes stains pale blue.

This histology slide has been stained using an "automatic staining" device. It is a

Wright's stain. The acidic components, such as the nucleic acids, will take on the

basic portion of the stain, or the methylene azure color, and stain blue. The basic

components, such as erythrocyte hemoglobin, will stain pink with eosin, since

eoisn is an acidic dye.

histology stains

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