Aniline Blue WS, also called aniline blue,
diphenylamine blue, China blue, or Soluble blue, is a mixture of
methyl blue
Methyl blue is a chemical compound with the molecular formula C37H27N3Na2O9S3. It is used as a stain in histology, and stains collagen blue in tissue sections. It can be used in some differential staining techniques such as Mallory's connec ...
and
water blue. It may also be either one of them. It is a soluble dye used as a biological dye, in
fluorescence microscopy
A fluorescence microscope is an optical microscope that uses fluorescence instead of, or in addition to, scattering, reflection, and attenuation or absorption, to study the properties of organic or inorganic substances. "Fluorescence micr ...
, appearing a yellow-green colour after excitation with violet light. It is a mixture of the trisulfonates of triphenyl rosaniline and of diphenyl rosaniline.
Aniline blue or its constituents are used to
stain
A stain is a discoloration that can be clearly distinguished from the surface, material, or medium it is found upon. They are caused by the chemical or physical interaction of two dissimilar materials. Accidental staining may make materials app ...
collagen, as the fibre stain in
Masson's trichrome,
as well as to reveal callose structures in plant tissues.
It can be used in the Mallory's
connective tissue
Connective tissue is one of the four primary types of animal tissue, along with epithelial tissue, muscle tissue, and nervous tissue. It develops from the mesenchyme derived from the mesoderm the middle embryonic germ layer. Connective tissue ...
stain
and
Gömöri trichrome stain
Gömöri trichrome stain is a histological stain used on muscle
Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells o ...
. It is used in
differential staining Differential staining is a staining process which uses more than one chemical stain. Using multiple stains can better differentiate between different microorganisms or structures/cellular components of a single organism.
Differential staining is u ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aniline Blue Ws
Staining dyes
Triarylmethane dyes