[Histonet] Stain for Cellulose

[John Kiernan]

Cellulose isn't a "mammalian tisssue element", but there's usually some to be seen in the lumen of the alimentary tract, especially stomach and colon, of rats, mice etc.

Cellulose is PAS-positive. It's also birefringent (if you have a microscope with polarizing filters), but mostly it shows up because it's obviously present as plant cell walls. These persist long after the death and digestion of the once living parts of the cells, and they generally contain carbohydrates other than cellulose, along with various polyphenols etc that stain with cationic (basic) dyes and with various aluminium- and iron-haematoxylin methods. Clark's "Staining Procedures" (3rd ed, 1973) has 9 pages of staining methods for cellulose cell walls. Ruzin's "Plant Microtechnique and Microscopy" (1999) gives only the PAS method as a stain (not specific, of course) for cellulose.

John Kiernan
Anatomy, UWO
London, Canada
= = = 
----- Original Message -----
From: thomas.crowell <@t> novartis.com
Date: Thursday, November 20, 2008 11:37
Subject: [Histonet] Stain for Cellulose
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu

> I am looking for a stain that will specifically label cellulose, 
> mixed in 
> with other mammalian tisssue elements.  Any ideas?
> 
> Tom Crowell
> Novartis Institute for BiomedicalReseach
> Cambridge, MA 
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