Eosin will make everything pink, but won't show
the micro-anatomy very well. A red dye that stains
nuclei might be more informative. Three spring to
mind:
1. Neutral red (will also colour cartilage), mast cells 
   and cytoplasmic RNA such as Nissl substance.
2. Aluminium-nuclear fast red. Commonly used nuclear
   counterstain; usually there's a light pink background.
3. Brazalum (alum-brazilin), which is much like haemalum
   only red; should give a pure nuclear counterstain.
Methods for using neutral red and nuclear fast red are
in the usual textbooks. For brazalum, substitute brazilin
for haematoxylin in a haemalum recipe such as Mayer's.
(Brazilin is available from Anatech at a reasonable price. 
Some other suppliers greatly increased their prices for
brazilin a few years ago, and some major chemical catalogues
no longer list it.)
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-------------------------
John A. Kiernan
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
The University of Western Ontario
London,   Canada   N6A 5C1
   kiernan@uwo.ca
   http://publish.uwo.ca/~jkiernan/
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mrl0627@mail.ecu.edu wrote:
> 
> Hello Histonetters!
> I am looking for the best counterstain to display xgal staining present in mouse cochlea sections.  The area is very small, so I am afraid of overwhelming the blue staining present.  Have been advised to try Eosin for no more than 10 seconds on my dewaxed 5 micron sections; any thoughts/suggestions appreciated.  Thanks in advance.  Maureen @ East Carolina U.
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