An Introduction of Alcian Blue Stain Dyes

Alcian Blue is any member of the family of multivalent basic dyes, of which Alcian Blue 8G has historically been the most common and reliable member. It is used to stain acidic polysaccharides, such as glycosaminoglycans in cartilage and other body structures, certain types of mucopolysaccharides, sialylated glycans of cells, and the like. For many of these targets, it is one of the most widely used cationic dyes for optical and electron microscopy. Historically, Arsin Blue has been a popular staining method in histology, especially in light microscopes with paraffin-embedded sections and semi-thin resin sections. The portion of tissue specifically stained by this dye turns blue to blue-green after staining and is referred to as “basophilic” (compared to “eosinophilic” or “Sudanophilic”). Alsin blue staining can be used in combination with H & E staining, PAS staining and van Gieson staining methods. Alsin blue can be used for quantification of acid glycans in differential spectrophotometric quantification in solution, and for staining glycoproteins in polyacrylamide gels or Western blots. Since the 1960s, biochemists have been using it to analyze acidic polysaccharides in urine to diagnose diseases such as mucopolysaccharidosis, but from the 1970s, partly because of the lack of Alcian use and partly because The length and tediousness of the process necessitates the development of alternative methods such as dimethylmethylene blue (DMB or DMMB) methods.