On Mon, 1 Mar 1999, Perscha-Lippe wrote:

> Does anybody have any information  and a working protocol for the
> cuprolinic blue counterstaining method? Is it done before or after the
> actual immunhistochemical experiment? Where can the substances be
> purchased?

   The Polysciences catalog (mine is 3 yrs old) includes cuprolinic
   blue. Pretty expensive, but the staining solution is very stable
   (keeps for years at 4C) and you only need a tiny drop under a
   coverslip.

   The dye is used in carbohydrate histochemistry and also as a
   specific stain for RNA. Is the latter what you want for a
   counterstain? The method was described by Mendelson, Tas &
   James (1983) Histochem. J. 15: 1113-1121. There are variants
   for showing neurons in wholemounts (Heineke, Kiernan & Wijsman
   1987 J Neurosci Methods 21: 45-54; Holst & Powley 1995 J Neurosci
   Methods 62: 121-127; Van Ginneken et 3 al 1999 J Histochem
   Cytochem 47: 13-21. The 2nd and 3rd of these references use
   cuprolinic blue as a counterstain for immunohistochemistry.).

 John A. Kiernan,
 Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology,
 The University of Western Ontario,
 LONDON,  Canada  N6A 5C1
   E-mail: kiernan@uwo.ca