| Perls' Prussian blue stain | <technique> A stain for ferric iron as in haemosiderins, using potassium ferrocyanide in acetic acid or dilute hydrochloric acid followed by a red counterstain such as safranin O or neutral red; various haemosiderins and most mineral irons give a blue-green reaction, while nuclei stain red. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| Gridley's stain | <technique> For fungi, a method for fixed tissue sections based on Bauer's chromic acid leucofuchsin stain with the addition of Gomori's aldehyde fuchsin stain and metanil yellow as counterstains; against a yellow background, hyphae, conidia, yeast capsules, elastin, and mucin appear in different shades of blue to purple. (05 Mar 2000) |
| metachromatic stain | <technique> A stain, such as methylene blue, thionin, or azure A, that has the ability to produce different colours with various histological or cytological structures. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Grocott-Gomori methenamine-silver stain | <technique> A modification of Gomori's methenamine-silver stain for fungi in which sections are pretreated with chromic acid before addition of the methenamine-silver solution and then counterstained with light green to demonstrate black-brown fungi against a pale green background. (05 Mar 2000) |
| peroxidase stain | <technique> A method for demonstrating peroxidase granules in some neutrophils and in eosinophils; the enzyme promotes the oxidation of benzidine by hydrogen peroxide; tissues treated with horseradish peroxidase can also have the enzyme detected in the electron microscope. (05 Mar 2000) |
| methyl green-pyronin stain | <technique> A staining method useful for identification of plasma cells which are intensely pyroninophilic; a mixture of a green and a red dye that has the property of staining highly polymerised nucleic acid (DNA) green and low molecular weight nucleic acids (RNA) red. See: Unna-Pappenheim stain. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Romanovsky type stain | <technique> Composite histological stains including methylene blue, Azure A or B and eosin, sometimes with other stains. Examples are Giemsa, Wright's and Leishman's stain. (18 Nov 1997) |
| Romanowsky's blood stain | <technique> Prototype of the eosin-methylene blue stain's for blood smears, using aqueous solutions made of a mixture of methylene blue (saturated) and eosin. Romanowsky-type stain's depend for their action on compounds formed by interaction of methylene blue and eosin; most are of no value if water is present in the alcohol because neutral dyes become precipitated. (05 Mar 2000) |
| chromate stain | <technique> For lead, a method in which tissues preserved in chromate-containing fixatives, such as Regaud's or Orth's fixatives, precipitate lead as yellow lead chromate crystals; formalin-fixed sections are treated with potassium chromate acidified with acetic acid. (05 Mar 2000) |
| chrome alum haematoxylin-phloxine stain | <technique> A stain used to demonstrate pancreatic islet cells; alpha cells appear red, beta cells blue or unstained. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Roux's stain | <technique> A double stain for diphtheria bacilli which employs crystal violet or dahlia and methyl green. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Ciaccio's stain | <technique> A method for demonstrating complex insoluble intra-cellular lipids using fixation in a formalin-dichromate solution, embedding in paraffin, staining with Sudan III or IV, and examination in aqueous mountant. (05 Mar 2000) |
| phosphotungstic acid stain | <technique> The first general stain used for electron microscopy; a selective stain for extracellular components such as elastin, collagen, and basement membrane mucopolysaccharides; it can be followed by uranyl acetate or lead. Synonym: PTA stain. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Wachstein-Meissel stain | <technique> For calcium-magnesium-ATPase, a method similar to that of Gomori's non-specific acid phosphatase stain, except that incubation is carried out with ATP as substrate at neutral pH; enzyme activity is generally demonstrated at cell membranes. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Warthin-Starry silver stain | <technique> A stain for spirochetes in which preparations are incubated in 1% silver nitrate solution followed by a developer. (05 Mar 2000) |