Happy Saturday! Today weโll be starting a mini-series on special stains! Todayโs stain is ๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐๐๐ ๐!
๐๐ก๐๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ข๐ง?
Cells donโt have much colour to them at all, so we use stains to dye certain components of the cell different colours. Our usual stain is called ๐ก๐๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง (H&E). It does a pretty excellent job! But in some cases, we might want to specifically highlight a cell component, a bacteria, a fungus or some other entity that H&E doesnโt stain very well. This is where ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ข๐ง๐ฌ come in!
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐๐๐ ๐?
Oil red O is a red dye that specifically highlights ๐๐๐ญ๐ฌ, dying them a bright red colour. Most of our stains can be done on ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ (tissue preserved in formalin), but the fixation process actually removes all of the fat! So this stain must be done on fresh or frozen tissue.
This image is from a case of ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ (fatty liver) in a cat. The blue cells in the middle are unstained connective tissue cells, while all the red surrounding it are ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐๐ญ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ญ๐๐ฌ (liver cells) containing large amounts of fat!
