About seven years ago, one of my students did a research project,
comparing Alcian blue (Al Bl), Alcian green, and Propoxylated Astra Blue
(PAB).

As far as I can remember, the PAB worked as well as the Al Bl, with
just about the same color and intensity. She tested it on normal
small intestine, as well as come different cancers that would require
Al Bl and which would have paler staining than goblet cells.

I believe she talked via the phone with Dr. Mowry concerning alcian
blue substitutes. He suggested this dye. If I remember, he had given a
talk at the NSH Symposium on mucin staining right around that time
(Key Note Speaker), so I had suggested that she talk with him.

The following is off the label on the bottle. There is no color index
number. There wasn't a phone number on the bottle. Maybe one of
the  histonetters has the phone number of the company.

Propoxylated Astra Blue
8934 ( I don't know what this number means, but it's on the bottle.
It's not the lot number, as that was written separately. Possibly it
is the catalog order number)
"For research only. Not for food or drug use."

Dajac Laboratories, Inc.
1111 Street Road, Suite 212
Southampton, PA 18966

Peggy A. Wenk, HTL(ASCP)
William Beaumont Hospital
Royal Oak, MI 4073

----- Original Message -----
From: "Histomail\" <histomail@netspace.net.au>
To: <histonet@pathology.swmed.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2001 4:02 PM
Subject: Astra Blue


> Has anyone had success with Astra Blue as a substitute for Alcian Blue in
> Mowbry's or Steedman's for Acid mucosubstances.
> Please advise as I suspect that there may be "Astra Blue" that is
unsuitable
> for this purpose.
> Mike (Downunder)
>
>