alcian-blue and peroxyformic-acid

A new combined stain is described for the study of cell types in the fish pituitary. Tissues are prepared by fixing in formol-sublimate and then embedded in paraffin wax. Tissue is sectioned at 5 micron and than stained sequentially with performic acid-alcian blue, periodic acid-Schiff, orange G, and acid fuchsin. As a result of this procedure acidophils stain as follows: lactotropes, red; corticotropes, light pink; melanotropes, bright pink; and somatotropes, orange. Cyanophils stain either magenta red (gonadotropes) or blue (thyrotropes). Neurosecretory material and the fibers of the pars nervosa which penetrate the pars intermedia stain light blue.

Topics: Alcian Blue; Animals; Azo Compounds; Fishes; Formates; Naphthalenesulfonates; Periodic Acid-Schiff Reaction; Peroxides; Pituitary Gland; Rosaniline Dyes; Staining and Labeling

The difficulty of using a single method for staining rat and human pituitary was investigated by testing separately and in different combinations the effects of the various components in the performic-acid-alcian-blue(P.F.A.B.)-periodic-acid-Schiff(P.A.S.) method (Adams and Swettenham, 1958). In this way the possibility of inhibiting or enhancing by one procedure the staining effects of the other could be assessed. The profound influence of fixation on these staining methods was demonstrated by employing the same set of staining methods on tissues fixed in different ways. The possibility that unbuffered performic acid might exert a considerable solvent action on certain proteins was considered to be related to the difficulty of applying the P.F.A.B.-P.A.S. method to the rat pituitary. Buffered performic acid has far less solvent action and the P.F.A.B.-P.A.S. method, modified by the replacement of buffered for unbuffered performic acid, proved to be successful in the demonstration of two types of basophil cells in both rat and man.

Topics: Alcian Blue; Animals; Basophils; Cell Differentiation; Coloring Agents; Formates; Histological Techniques; Humans; Leukocyte Count; Male; Pituitary Gland; Pituitary Gland, Anterior; Rats; Staining and Labeling

Topics: Alcian Blue; Animals; Coloring Agents; Cystine; Dogs; Formates; Hormones; Hypothalamus; Pituitary Gland; Pituitary Gland, Posterior; Rats; Staining and Labeling