by Weiling Yin
Toluidine blue is used for staining of semithin sections. The stained section is used as a guideline to determine the area of interest and further trimming of embedded tissue block.
Reagents:
- 1% Toluidine blue and 2% Borate in distilled water
- Toluidine blue: 0.1 g
- Sodium borate (Borax): 0.2 g
- Distilled water: 10 ml
- Store the filtered solution in light protected bottle in 4C as stock stain solution.
- Use a 1 ml syringe for staining procedure (Remember to attach a filter on syringe when use).
Procedure:
1. Cut semithin sections at 400 or 500 nm.
2. Use a metal loop to collect sections and transfer sections to a drop of distilled water on a glass slide.
3. Dry sections on a heat plate.
4. After the sections are completely dried, cover with a drop of Toluidine blue with the heat source still on till the edge of the drop start to dry.
5. Rinse off excess stain gently with distilled water
6. Air dry the slide
(7. Coverslip with regular mounting medium if slide need to be kept for record.)
Results:
Cells and nuclei stained blue