[Histonet] Re: Von Kossa vs Alizarin Red

[Johnson, Teri]

Hi Betsy,

How timely is your question! We are (well, actually Nancy Thomas is) currently evaluating the two stains on some chameleon heads and we have found something really interesting we never considered. The chameleon has quite a bit of melanin pigment in places. The fact the von kossa will end up staining the bone black, it doesn't contrast well with the areas of pigment throughout the connective tissue. Otherwise, in other species I usually prefer the von kossa.

The silver technique might also work better for combined stains or combined histochemical and immunohistochemical staining than using the Alizarin Red. Just my preference.

~Teri