Kimberlie Burns at the CF Center at Chapel Hill asks:

>>I've been asked to stain spermatoza using the Heidenhain's azan technique.
I am having trouble obtaining one of the ingredients, analine oil. Does
analine oil have another name? Might you know where I can purchase analine
oil?<<

I wouldn't pick up on a straight line like that for a free weekend at Ober
Gatlinburg!

But, seriously, folks, "aniline oil" (aniline) is a hazardous material you
might not wish to handle. Why this ancient stain? Published by Heidenhain in
the Zeitschrift fuer wissenschaftliche Mikroskopie in 1916, it coins the word
"AzAn" from Azocarmine B and Aniline Blue, the two principal dyes it uses.
(This from Lillie, 3rd ed.) According to The Microtomist's Vade-Mecum (I
actually have a copy) "The stain is good for gonads." Later developments of
the stain used dilute aniline as a differentiating agent.

I think it would be difficult to be sure that one even had the right dyes.
Surely some more recent technique would serve as well. What exactly are you
trying to stain?

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Knoxville TN
(doubt they're skiing at Ober Gatlinburg TN this warm week!)