Am working on a DMH induced colon cancer in mice and i would like to know, could polyps or ACFs be counted through visual macroscopic examination without methylene blue staining ?
Thank you.
Hello Karima,
As I know, it will be very hard to identify polyps or ACFs without using any specific stain, and the evidence will not be considered enough.
Methylene blue is an absorptive stain. It is absorbed by the normal epithelial cells of the intestine, which stain blue in color, but in case of dysplastic and cancerous lesions, which remain unstained. Therefore, it is used clinically for the identification of cancerous lesions in the patients.
However, there is one more dye that is indigo carmine, which works on the principle of contrast stains. This could also be used as an alternative to methylene blue.
I wish you a successful experiment.
Good luck!
