[Histonet] Re: RED COUNTERSTAINS

[Smith, Allen]

I have not used Anatech's Brazilliant, but I have made alum brazillin ("brazalum") from brazillin and ammonium alum.  Because the stain is not as dark as hematoxylin, I like it for thick sections.  It is colorfast in organic solvents and holds up well in Permount: slides that I stained with brazalum and naphthol green 40 years ago are still as good as the day I made them.

Allen A. Smith, Ph.D.
Professor of Anatomy
Barry University School of Graduate Medical Sciences
    Podiatric Medicine and Surgery
Miami Shores, Florida  33161


-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Robert Richmond
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 2:26 PM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Re: RED COUNTERSTAINS

Diana McCaig asks about the nuclear counterstains nuclear fast red and
neutral red.

Does anyone on this list have any experience with Anatech's
"Brazilliant", their trade name for alum brazilin, closely related to
alum hematoxylin, but red instead of purple? This looks to me like a
very logical red nuclear stain, and I'd certainly like to see it in
action if it were possible for me to obtain it (remember that hospital
pathology services are not usually permitted to order from small
companies like Anatech and the Davidson marking ink people).

As everybody on this list ought to know, hematoxylin is a dye
extracted from the logwood tree (Haematoxylum campechianum), with an
aluminum mordant. (There is no satisfactory synthetic substitute.)
Brazilin is structurally very similar, but with an alum mordant it is
red rather than purple. Brazilin is extracted from the closely related
brazil woods, Caesalpinia echinata or C. sappan.

One would expect this red dye to have the same staining specificity as
hematoxylin, and it should not wash out in aqueous mounting media.

(I have no connection with Anatech.)

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Knoxville TN

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