Stains-all is a
carbocyanine dye, which stains
anionic
proteins,
nucleic acid
Nucleic acids are biopolymers, macromolecules, essential to all known forms of life. They are composed of nucleotides, which are the monomers made of three components: a 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. The two main cl ...
s, anionic
polysaccharide
Polysaccharides (), or polycarbohydrates, are the most abundant carbohydrates found in food. They are long chain polymeric carbohydrates composed of monosaccharide units bound together by glycosidic linkages. This carbohydrate can react with wa ...
s and other anionic molecules.
Properties
Stains-all is
metachromatic and changes its color dependent on its contact to other molecules.
The
detection limit
The limit of detection (LOD or LoD) is the lowest signal, or the lowest corresponding quantity to be determined (or extracted) from the signal, that can be observed with a sufficient degree of confidence or statistical significance. However, the ...
for
phosphoproteins is below 1 ng after one hour of staining, for anionic polysaccharides between 10 and 500 ng.
[N] Highly anionic proteins are stained blue,
proteoglycan
Proteoglycans are proteins that are heavily glycosylated. The basic proteoglycan unit consists of a "core protein" with one or more covalently attached glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chain(s). The point of attachment is a serine (Ser) residue to whic ...
s purple and anionic proteins pink.
RNA
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carbohydra ...
is stained blueish-purple with a detection limit of 90 ng and DNA is stained blue with a detection limit of 3 ng.
Stains-all is light sensitive, therefore the staining is performed in the absence of light and photographed immediately. Staining of proteins can be improved by a subsequent
silver stain.
The analogue
Ethyl
Ethyl may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Cold Ethyl, a Swedish rock band
*Ethyl Sinclair, a character in the ''Dinosaurs'' television show
Science and technology
* Ethyl group, an organic chemistry moiety
* Ethyl alcohol (or ethanol)
* E ...
-Stains-all has similar properties as stains-all, with differences in
solubility and staining properties.
Applications
Stains-all stains nucleic acids, anionic proteins, anionic polysaccharides such as
alginate and
pectin
Pectin ( grc, πηκτικός ': "congealed" and "curdled") is a heteropolysaccharide, a structural acid contained in the primary lamella, in the middle lamella, and in the cell walls of terrestrial plants. The principal, chemical component of ...
ate,
hyaluronic acid
Hyaluronic acid (; abbreviated HA; conjugate base hyaluronate), also called hyaluronan, is an anionic, nonsulfated glycosaminoglycan distributed widely throughout connective, epithelial, and neural tissues. It is unique among glycosaminoglycans ...
and
dermatan sulfate,
heparin
Heparin, also known as unfractionated heparin (UFH), is a medication and naturally occurring glycosaminoglycan. Since heparins depend on the activity of antithrombin, they are considered anticoagulants. Specifically it is also used in the treatm ...
,
heparan sulfate and
chondroitin sulfate.
It is used in
SDS-PAGE,
agarose gel electrophoresis and
histologic staining, e.g. staining of growth lines in bones.
[{{cite journal , pmid = 1716999, year = 1991, last1 = Gruber, first1 = H. E., title = Application of stains-all for demarcation of cement lines in methacrylate embedded bone, journal = Biotechnic & Histochemistry , volume = 66, issue = 4, pages = 181–4, last2 = Mekikian, first2 = P., doi = 10.3109/10520299109109966]
References
Thiazole dyes
Biochemistry methods
Histology