Dyeing and other ways to stain cells and tissues for microscopy Link: https://goo.gl/5vbWkH

What is it about?

Staining (with dyes and other coloured substances) is the traditional way to add contrast to small organisms or to thin sections of animal or plant tissues. Different colours can be imparted to such structures as cell nuclei, connective tissue fibres, cellulose and various materials in cytoplasm. This article reviews current ideas about some traditional biological staining procedures, strategies for amplifying tiny signals due to traces of specific substances, and the use of dyes and fluorochromes for obtaining visual information about structure and function in living cells and organisms. There are, however, many other facets of biological staining and histochemistry that could not be covered in an article of this size. 232 references are provided for further study.

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Why is it important?

The field of biological staining is not a rapidly changing one, so this review, published in 2006, is still reasonably up to date. It was published in a journal not generally consulted by biomedical scientists, and serves as an introduction to microtechnique and histochemistry for those working in other, especially industrial, fields of coloration technology.