Structure‐staining relationships in histochemistry and biological staining

Abstract

A description is given of the choice, rationale and calculation of several numerical coefficients for describing the chemical structures of staining reagents such as dyestuffs, enzyme substrates, diazonium and tetrazolium salts. Using such coefficients, structure-staining correlations may be made for many staining systems. Examples include the structural correlations of the quantitative affinity measurements of the staining of chromatin with basic dyes, the tetrazolium salts for use as visualizing agents in enzyme histochemistry, and the use of bis-azo compounds as acid or basic dyes, or as fat stains. The value of such structure-staining correlation models for assisting the rational selection and design of new histochemical reagents, and for understanding old reagents and procedures, is discussed.

Imaging linear birefringence and dichroism in cerebral amyloid pathologies

“…A standard procedure for staining amyloid with CR was established by Puchtler et al (13), who surmised that the dye was attached via unspecified hydrogen bonds and ''ionic linkages.'' Lillie (22) invoked hydrogen bonding as the major mechanism of association, as did Glenner et al (23), Mera and Davies (24), and Turnell and Finch (25); but Glenner et al assigned equal importance to hydrophobic interactions, the principal noncovalent interaction according to Pigorsch et al (26), whereas Mera and Davies invoked van der Waals forces, the principle noncovalent interaction according to Horobin (27). Turnell and Finch, leaving no stone unturned, cited the importance of hydrophobic and van der Waals interactions in addition to hydrogen bonding.…”

Fluorescence Quenching of the Europium Tetracycline Hydrogen Peroxide Complex by Copper (II) and other Metal Ions

“…1 (Immuno)histochemical staining is nowadays an important method that is widely used for scanning tissue samples or cell cultures for biomolecular interactions. 2 The use of europium chelates as labels for proteins or antibodies, with their outstanding properties such as long fluorescence decay times in the microsecond range, Stokes shifts of more than 200 nm, and a line-like emission, has resulted in time-resolved detection techniques such as timeresolved fluoroimmunoassays (TRFIA). [3][4][5][6][7][8] Functionalized lanthanide complexes are also used as labels for DNA and proteins and are applicable as donors in assays based on time-resolved resonance energy transfer (RET).…”

Dyes and other colorants in microtechnique and biomedical research

“…It has been suggested [4,23,29] that hydrogen bonds attach some anionic dyes to uncharged substrates such as cellulose (with many OH groups) and collagen (with many NH and NH 2 groups). In aqueous solutions, however, most of the oxygen and nitrogen atoms of dyes are likely to be hydrogen‐bonded to water, and van der Waals forces probably account for the affinity of dyes for uncharged substrates [30–32]. Another mechanism involved in biological staining from aqueous solutions is hydrophobic interaction.…”

“…An example is Best's carmine technique, in which a red cationic dye–metal complex binds to glycogen, which is a neutral polysaccharide in the cytoplasm of liver and muscle cells. Exposure of stained sections to water rapidly extracts the dye from glycogen granules [13,32].…”

“…30,34,35; Hunger, 2003; Zollinger, 2003] and in many biological staining methods [see Ref. 13,29,32,36]. Nevertheless, in many texts on the subject [e.g.…”