List of Stains

Stain	Uses	Tissue Components Targeted	Mechanism of Staining	Stains Used Primary Secondary	Other Reagents
Hematoxylin & Eosin (H&E)	General tissue staining	Nuclei - blue RBCs - red/dark pink Muscle - pink Collagen - light pink		Harris Hematoxylin (nuclear) Eosin Y (cytoplasm)	Harris Hematoxylin Acid Alcohol Scott's tap water substitute Eosin Y
Periodic Acid-Schiff (PAS)	Identifying glycogen, starches, and fungi (chitin)
Alcian Blue (AB)
Alcian Blue + Periodic Acid-Schiff (AB PAS)
Congo Red	Identifying amyloid deposits		Hydrogen bonding
Masson Trichrome	Identifying fibrotic tissue	Connective Tissue Stain Nuclei - blue-black RBCs - dark red Muscle - red Cytoplasm - red Collagen - varies by stain (often green or blue)	Porosity and ionic bonding	No primary stain. Iron hematoxylin (nuclear) Ponceau (dense connective) Light green or aniline blue (loose connective)
Gordon and Sweet's Reticulin	Identifies reticulin fibres (type III & IV collagen) Differential diagnosis of certain tumour types	Connective Tissue Stain Reticulin fibres - black Nuclei and cytoplasm - varies by counterstain	Metallic impregnation Argyophilic metallic impregnation & substitution Counterstain Ionic bonding	a Varies (light green, nuclear fast red, neutral red, etc.)
Verhoeff's Van Giesen	Identifies elastin fibres	Connective Tissue Stain Elastic fibres - blue-black/black Nuclei - dark blue-black Collagen - red Muscle - orange RBCs - yellow Cytoplasm - yellow	Van der Waal's Primary stain Porosity and ionic bonding Counterstain	Verhoeff's Iron Hematoxylin (elastic fibres) Van Giesen Picric acid (RBCs and cytoplasm) Acid fuchsin (collagen and muscle)
Oil Red O	Identifying triglycerides, lipids, and lipoproteins	Connective Tissue Stain	Selective solubility