[Histonet] Oil Red O despair

[Amos Brooks]

Michele,
   You could try 0.5% Oil Red O in 60% triethylphosphate. That works really
well here. I've also used a formulation I found in Humanson, the same amount
of Oil Red O in 99% ethanol and it worked fairly well. Triethylphosphate is
much cleaner than the ethanol. (There was a precipitate on the slide.) I
can't avouch for isopropyl as I used ethanol, but it is good to know there's
an alternative in case we run out of triethylphosphate.

Amos Brooks

Message: 10
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:56:45 -0600
From: "Michele Wich" <mwich <@t> 7thwavelabs.com>
Subject: [Histonet] Oil Red O despair
To: <histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
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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.