[Histonet] 1. Fontana. 2. Fatty acids

[John Kiernan]

1. The list of argentaffin materials includes melanin, granules of some neuroendocrine cells (including chromaffin cells, carcinoid tumours etc), lipofuscin and formalin pigment. There was a special issue of the Journal of Histolotechnology devoted to silver staining (Vol 19, No, 3, Sept 1996). Detailed instructions for two methods for melanin are given on pp.274-275 in a paper by Winsome Garvey.
 
2. Almost all staining methods for fat and other lipids depend on the presence of unsaturated acyl groups. For free fatty acids (i.e. not esterified) there are methods using Nile blue (CI 51180) and there's also Holczinger's method using copper acetate and dithiooxamide. Every histochemistry book gives instructions for these methods and discusses their limitations. Pearse (4th ed Vol 2) is the most thorough, but there's an excellent little 68-page paperback, "Lipid Histochemistry" by Olga Bayliss High (Oxford Univ Press and Royal Microscopical Society, 1984). It's probably out of print now, but a Google search for "ISBN 0198564058" brings up plenty of 2nd-hand copies.
 
John Kiernan
Anatomy, UWO
London, Canada
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Kalleberg, Kristopher" <Kristopher.Kalleberg <@t> unilever.com>
Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 9:20
Subject: [Histonet] fontana
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu

> Does anyone know of anything other than melanin that Fontana Masson
> would stain?  Also, does anyone know of a stain that would label
> un/saturated fatty acids?  Not sure if this is even 
> possible.  Thanks in
> advance.
>  
> Kris Kalleberg
> _______________________________________________