A combined PAS‐myofibril stain for demonstration of early lesions of striated muscle

Abstract

To facilitate studies of early myocardial lesions a method was developed for simultaneous demonstration of saccharides and muscle proteins. Deparaffinized sections were treated consecutively with the PAS reaction, tannic acid, phosphomolybdic acid and Levanol fast cyanine 5RN. A and Z bands in normal muscle were stained blue. I bands were coloured yellow. Under various pathological conditions A and Z bands lost their affinity for Levanol fast cyanine 5RN, with and without appearance of PAS-positive material in the Z bands.Comparison of staining patterns with chemical, electron microscopic and X-ray diffraction data indicated that Levanol fast cyanine 5RN is bound by myosin and tropomyosin B. This affinity is lost when the protein structure is altered. The origin of the PAS-positive material appearing in the Z bands could not yet be determined.

A Toxic Cardiomyopathy Caused by Cassia occidentalis. I. Morphologic Studies in Poisoned Rabbits

“…Alteration of the A-bands and focal, irregular contraction of sarcomeres that results in a striped appearance of degenerated fibers is a characteristic feature ofmyofibrillar degeneration. This form of degeneration is seen in many types of cardiac muscle injury in which hypoxia is a common factor [3,8,20,22]. Myofibrillar degeneration is commoner at the periphery of myocardial infarcts, whereas hyaline degeneration is commoner in the center [8].…”

A comparative study of myosins and prekeratin in epithelial cells of methacarn-fixed tissues

“…Since glntaraldehyde is supposed to preserve tissue ultrastructure better than formaldehyde, it can be assumed that the latter also affects the a-helix. This conclusion is supported by observations that formalin fixation blocks configurational staining reactions for myosins (Puchtler et al 1969a). Methacarn fixation was designed for preservation of the a-helical structure of myosins .…”

“…The mechanism and selectivity of the TP-Levanol Fast Cyanine 5RN reaction for myosins has been discussed previously (Puchtler et al 1969a(Puchtler et al , b, 1974. Besides myosins and fibrin, this technic colors also the c~-helical globin moiety of hemoglobin.…”

“…Sternberger (1979) recommended formalin fixation for immunology. However, formaldehyde blocks prekeratin antigens (Altmannsberger et al 1981) and abolishes configurational reactions for myosins (Puchtler et al 1969a). Methacarn fixation was developed for preservation of c~-helical proteins ) and proved optimal for demonstration of myosins (Puchtler et al 1974(Puchtler et al , 1975a.…”

A Modified Levanol Fast Cyanine 5Rn Staining Method For Myoepithelial Cells

“…No counterstain has been recommended by the promotors of the method, although the same authors (Puchtler et al, 1969b) published a 'combined PASmyofibril stain' based on the tanno-molybdic-Levanol Fast Cyanine 5RN technique.…”