[Histonet] Monastral blue

[John Kiernan]

Monastral blue B is not a dye; it's a pigment 
(CI 74160; Pigment blue 15). Its chemical name
is copper(II) phthalocyanine, and this is in
the Sigma and Aldrich catalogues. Aldrich
sells three grades, with a wide variation
in prices. My guess is that the cheapest would
be OK. None are hugely expensive, however, so it
might be best to try more than one. For vascular
permeability studies you need a small
particle size that will remain in suspension.

Here are a few references that may help. The first one 
in the list shows that the circulation time is only 
3-4 minutes. That is similar to Indian ink, which you 
might be able to use instead.

Drake WT, Creighan M, Sims DE (1992) Limitations of
monastral blue as a vascular label: rapid rate of clearance
is age-dependent, and interactions with anesthetics depress
arterial blood pressure in rats. Microscopy Research and
Technique 23: 219-224.

Dux M, Jancso G (1994) A new technique for the direct
demonstration of overlapping cutaneous innervation
territories of peptidergic C-fibre afferents of rat hindlimb
nerves. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 55: 47-52.

Baluk P, Hirata A, Thurston G, Fujiwara T, Neal CR, Michel
CC, McDonald DM (1997) Endothelial gaps: Time course of
formation and closure in inflamed venules of rats. American
Journal of Physiology - Lung Cellular and Molecular
Physiology 16: L155-L170.

Hu P, Pollard J, Hunt N, Taylor J, Chanling T (1998)
Microvascular and cellular responses in the optic nerve of
rats with acute experimental allergic encephalomyelitis
(EAE). Brain Pathology 8: 475-486.

Horobin, RW (2002) Phthalocyanines, porphyrins and related
aza[18]annulenes. Chapter 26 in Conn's Biological Stains,
10th ed. Oxford: BIOS. (Contains basic information, and
refers to recent literature of various uses of monastral
blue B)
-- 
-------------------------------
John A. Kiernan
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
The University of Western Ontario
London,   Canada   N6A 5C1
   kiernan[AT]uwo.ca
   http://publish.uwo.ca/~jkiernan/
   http://instruct.uwo.ca/anatomy/530/index.htm
_______________________________

"Hawkins, Hal K." wrote:
> 
> 
> We need to study changes in vascular permeability in animal models using
> Monastral Blue B dye.  Apparently Sigma-Aldrich no longer supplies this
> pigment.  Does anyone know of another source, or would anyone be willing
> to share/sell us some?  Alternatively, is there another colloid that is
> useful in the same way at the level of both light and electron
> microscopy?
> 
> Thanks,
> Hal Hawkins
> University of Texas Medical Branch
> Galveston, Texas
> hhawkins <@t> utmb.edu
>