Alternative Myelin Stain To Traditional Antibody Staining

March 22, 2017

Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Pathology
PhD Candidate

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Company:

EMD Millipore

Product Name:

Black Gold II Myelin Staining Kit

Catalog Number:

AG105

Most myelin staining on tissue sections is performed with antibodies, with the exception of luxol fast blue. The myelin black gold stain is an alternative to traditional staining techniques and stains myelin fibers with a high degree of clarity.

Experimental Design and Results Summary

Application

Myelin staining for histology

Starting Material

Coronal mouse brain sections

Protocol Overview

Pre-heat black-gold and sodium thiosulfate solutions in 60*C water bath, rehydrate frozen sections in ddH2O, incubate sections in pre-warmed black-gold solution for 12 minutes (or pre-determine optimal time), rinse 2X in distilled water, incubate sections in 1% sodium thiosulfate solution for 3 minutes at 60*C, wash sections 2-3X in distilled water, coverslip

Tips

Be sure to keep a close eye on the sections so they don't dry out when heating them at 60*C

Results Summary

Sections are stained a rich purple color with fine myelin fibers readily visible and can be quantitated using ImageJ software.

DOI or PMID #

N/A

Additional Notes

N/A

Image Gallery

Summary

The Good

Staining takes less than one hour as compared to traditional antibody staining

The Bad

This staining reagent is not as popular or well-known which might give you problems with reviewers

The Bottom Line

Quick, reliable staining of myelin in tissue sections.

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