[Histonet] Oil Red O despair

[Ada Feldman]

Dear Michele,

One of my first histology research papers was "Relative effectiveness  
of various solvents for oil red O" (Medical Laboratory Technology,  
1974, 335-341.) It was concluded that propylene glycol solvents for  
oil red O produced poor contrasts. Isopropanol, as a solvent, can  
dissolve tissue lipids. This latter problem is reduced by diluting  
the isopropanol with water, but dye may precipitate on the tissue  
section. Our research showed optimal oil red O staining with triethyl  
phosphate (0.5% oil red O in 60% triethyl phosphate, 5 minutes.)  
Triethyl phosphate solvent produced dark staining and no precipitate.

Send me your mailing address and I will be happy to send you a reprint.

Ada Feldman
Anatech Ltd
1020 Harts Lake Road
Battle Creek, MI 49037
800.262.8324
adafeldman <@t> anatechltdusa.com


On Nov 17, 2008, at 12:56 PM, Michele Wich wrote:

> I'm wondering what are the pros (or cons) of using the propylene  
> glycol
> version of Oil Red O over the isopropanol method. Is one more  
> suited to
> a specific application?
>
> I'm trying to stain a frozen section of liver, which one would suspect
> would be loaded with fat, and have thus far been unsuccessful using  
> the
> propylene glycol Oil Red O.
>
> Is there something obvious that I'm missing here? I'm new to
> cryosectioning...perhaps I did something wrong in the cryostat. I  
> fixed
> my sections in NBF before staining.
>
> Please help. I'm feeling like a pathetic excuse for a histotech. Any
> advice is greatly appreciated.
>
>
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