Novel electron microscopic staining method using traditional dye, hematoxylin

Hiroyuki Sasaki; Hisako Arai; Emi Kikuchi; Hideki Saito; Keiko Seki; Takeshi Matsui

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-11523-y

Novel electron microscopic staining method using traditional dye, hematoxylin

Sci Rep. 2022 May 16;12(1):7756. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-11523-y.

Authors

Hiroyuki Sasaki¹, Hisako Arai², Emi Kikuchi², Hideki Saito², Keiko Seki², Takeshi Matsui³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Rehabilitation, Tokyo Professional University of Health Sciences, Tokyo, Japan. h-sasaki@tpu.ac.jp.
² Core Research Facilities, School of Medicine, The Jikei University, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Laboratory for Evolutionary Cell Biology of the Skin, School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo University of Technology, Tokyo, Japan. matsuitks@stf.teu.ac.jp.

Abstract

Uranyl acetate (UA) has been routinely used as a staining solution for ultrathin sections used in biological electron microscopy. As a radioactive nuclear material, UA is subject to strict international regulations. To develop an alternative and easy-to-use staining method for ultrathin sections, we examined various commercial light microscopic dyes. We found that Mayer's hematoxylin followed by Reynold's lead citrate solution showed staining results comparable to UA and Reynold's lead citrate solution, and this method is therefore suggested as a reliable and promising alternative to UA staining.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Citric Acid
Coloring Agents*
Electrons*
Hematoxylin
Staining and Labeling

Substances

Coloring Agents
Citric Acid
Hematoxylin