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Staining
Staining
Faculty of Science
Biology Department
DR. OMONY JB
27/08/2021
Staining is used to highlight important features of the tissue as well as to en-
hance the tissue contrast.
Chemical features of tissue structures according to affinity to acid-
base stains:
1.Basophilic structures, are stained by basic dyes:
Basic dyes, example; Hematoxylin
Hematoxylin is positively charged dye
1. Deparaffinization
2. Rehydration
4. Staining
5. Dehydration and clearing
6. Mounting
7. Permanent seal - After mounting the cover slip can be
ringed by clear nail polish for storage.
1. Deparaffinization; removal of wax is done with xylol.
• It is essential to remove the wax completely, otherwise subse-
quent stages will not be possible.
• At least 2 to 3 changes in xylol are given for suitable length of
time. Sections of this stage should appear clear and transparent.
• Presence of any patches indicates the presence of wax and sec-
tions should be kept longer in the xylol.
2.Rehydration; most of the stains used are aqueous or dilute
alcoholic solutions.
Hence it is essential to bring the section to water before the
stains are applied. The hydration is done with graded alco-
hols from higher concentration to lower concentration (des-
cending).
Alcohol and acetone are miscible with xylol. First change is
made to absolute alcohol or acetone followed by 100%, 70%
alcohol and finally distilled water. Sections now should ap-
pear opaque.
Presence of any clear areas are indicative of the presence of
xylol. To remove this xylol, sections should be returned to ab-
solute alcohol and rehydrated
Staining
3. Staining; various staining procedures are applied
from this hydrated stage.
The most common stain applied for histological
study is Haematoxylin and Eosin. Various types of
haematoxylin formulations are used.
Washing and rinsing of tissue sections is a neces-
sary part of most staining techniques.
It eliminates carrying over of one dye solution to the
next.
Dehydration and Clearing
Mounting
Ex; Canada balsam or DPX
Results
Nucleus - blue
Cytoplasm and background - pink