Histology Stains

Histology Stains - Common Stains and Their Reactions
Stain	Nucleus	Cytoplasm	Collagen	RBCs	Other
Haematoxylin	blue	-	-	-	mucins - light blue
Eosin	-	pink	pale pink	bright red	colloid - pinkmuscle - red
Iron Haematoxylin	blue/black	-	-	-
Van Gieson	-	brown/yellow	red	yellow	muscle: yellow/browncartilage - pink
Verhoeff's Elastin	black	-	-	-	elastic fibres - black
Tartrazine	-	yellow	yellow	yellow
Silver Impregnation	-	-	grey/brown	-	reticular fibres - black
Methyl Green	dark green	light green	light green	green
Nuclear Fast Red	red	pink	pink	pink
Gomori's Trichrome	purple/red	purple	green	red	keratin - redmuscle - purple/red
Heidenhain's Azan	red	purple/red	deep blue	red	muscle - red
Osmium Tetroxide	-	-	brown	brown	myelin, lipids - black
Alcian Blue	-	-	-	-	mucins, - blue
Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)	-	-	pink	-	mucins, glycogen, glycocalyx - magenta
Phosphotungstic Acid-Hematoxylin (PTAH)	blue	-	red	blue	muscle bands - blue
Masson's Trichrome	blue/black	red	green/blue	red	cartilage, mucins - blue or green; muscle - red
Luxol Fast Blue	-	-	-	variable	myelin - blue
Aldehyde Fuchsin	-	-	-	-	elastic fibres, mast cells - deep purple
Light Green	-	-	light green	-
Gallocyanin	dark blue	-	-	-	nucleic acids, Nissl granules - dark blue
Romanowsky (e.g. Leishman's)	blue	pink			acidophils - red, basophils - blue, azurophilic - purple
Aldehyde Pararosanilin					elastic fibres - purple