[Histonet] Vol 71, Issue 28, 1. Re: Collagen staining using special stains,

[Keith]

Collagen cannot be expected to stain uniformly throughout, since "collagen"
is a blanket term for at least 10 different chemical substances; therefore,
certain areas of the collagen will take on the dye with different intensity.
I like the comments made by Geoff about fixation and removing the paraffin,
which I'm sure you've already addressed.  His comment about not drawing any
conclusions about the collage through the use of special stains is
important.  If the investigator is not satisfied with the standard collagen
stains using analine blue, fast green, or acid fuchsin, then they might want
to try some IHC or tapping-mode atomic force microscopy to further identify
the subtypes of the collegen.

Keith M. Mikoff HTL/HT(ASCP)