It all depends on the color of the immunocytochemical product. If using DAB (brown) or the Red products (beta carboline), then blue can be useful but the use of hematoxylin makes analysis of the ICC without the Nissl impossible. Thus use of methyl green is better in that photography of the section under green filters gives ONLY the brown, whereas use of a red filter enhances the green to make it more visible. For NiDAB or Cobalt salts the blue counterstains are in my view useless, and under those situations, Neutral RED is a great counterstain. Use of complementary colors is the theme. Red(brown)-green, for example. The Neutral Red is a bright red and goes very well with the blue/purple of the NiDAB color (even though one would want a green chromogen with red, the green products are not stable - o-dionisidine).
Thank you for your answers. We are working with the APAAP-method. So Hematoxylin is a good choice for counterstain. I´m looking for some solutions for too much background staining with hematoxylin. Any sites about troubleshooting in IHC staining only discuss every step before the counterstaining...nobody seems to be interested about the result of the counterstain...
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