Comparing 8 Stains on Moldy Carrots

[lperepol]

Stains
1) Bismarck Brown Y
2) Eosin Y
3) India Ink
4) Iodine Solution, 0.1N (0.1M)
5) Janus Green B 
6) Methylene Blue
7) Neutral Red
8) Red Food Coloring

I would like to get my hands on Lactophenol. I have not been able to find a source in Canada or one that will ship to Canada. Some stains are difficult to come by when one lives in the sticks.

I'll post more pictures in following posts.


The moldy Carrots


The Stains to Compare


Something weird with Black India ink. It wants to climb -- India ink solution has been thinned down 10/90 -- 10 parts India Ink and 90 parts ethanol. India ink defies gravity.

[Hobbyst46]

IMO, India Ink is not a good stain. The pigment inside is tiny soot particles, not molecules, so it is a suspension, not solution. Such particles are expected to coat all solid surfaces, whereas biological stains are meant to stain differentially, and allow distinction between parts of the specimen - cell nuclei vs plasma or cell wall, etc. Also, I doubt that food coloring is in general an efficient colorant of tissues, but your experiment seems to show otherwise.

[mrsonchus]

Looks interesting to me.

Good to see one of my old-fashioned favourites, although not permanent unfortunately, that is Mismark Brown...

Brunel Microscopes in the U.K. sell Lactophenol Cotton Blue - I buy mine from them for fungi - I'm pretty sure they'd ship to you.

Here's a screen-snip,

Capture.JPG (26.44 KiB) Viewed 3216 times

Keep up the good work!

John B.

[lperepol]

Thank you Hobbyst46 and mrsonchus for your feedback. I appreciate tips!!! The Bismarck Brown stain looks suspiciously rather cellular. I need practice looking at and dissecting stuff.
Using buffered glycerol for a wet mount.