Someone here recently posted a question about counterstaining Oil-Red-O.
I have a similar question. Nuclear staining with Hematoxylin would be ok, but are there other stains (that don't use ethanol) that I could try? I was hoping for something purple or blue that I could use to stain cartilage or cell membranes. I am using the Oil-Red-O to stain adipocytes so cell membranes are not as critical (the red cytoplasm is what will inform me).
I have found a very good website that as answered many of my staining questions; stainsfile.info. Here is a link to a staining protocol using Oil-red-O with a Mayers hematoxylin and suggests that you coverslip with an aqueous mounting medium http://stainsfile.info/StainsFile/stain/lipid/chiffelleputtpropgly.htm
You may just want to explore the site for other options.
That would be alcian blue, I gess. It is a watery stain. No personal experience, you have to try.
The hematoxylin was an abysmal failure. The nuclei stained beautifully, but the Oil-Red-O washed out.
We use Mayer's hemalaun on regular basis with no problems. Are you sure to use an aequoes variant of hemalaun. Harris hemalum for example has ethanol as solvent.
YEs Gudrun, I thought it was Mayer's but possibly I got the wrong thing. Will try again with verified reagents
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