I think perhaps Movat's Pentachrome would serve your needs well.  I used to
do those when I worked in the bone lab at Ohio State.  they are very lovely.

Connie McManus


At 01:17 PM 5/18/01 -0500, Jerry Chi-Yuan Hu wrote:
>
>Hello Everyone,
>
>One of our collaborators is testing the mechanical properties of damaged
>cartilage, and mentioned that trichrome (he did not say which trichrome
>formulation) is often used to stain bone/cartilage since it stains the
>bone blue and collagen red.  He thinks that this may be because bone
>collagen is predominately type I, while cartilage contains type II.
>
>Since damaged cartilage "heals" by being filled with fibrocartilage
>(which contains type I collagen), he was wondering if a trichrome staining
>of damaged/healed cartilage will look like strands of blue in red.
>
>Unfortunately, I do not know the mechanisms of trichrome staining, and I
>was wondering if his reasoning is sound.  I am also wondering if anyone
>has stained cartilage with healed fibrocartilage and seen what he has
>pictured.
>
>Any comments will be greatly appreciated!
>
>Jerry Hu
>Rice University
>Houston, Texas, USA
>
>
>
Connie McManus
Veterinary Diagnostics Lab
Utah State University
Logan, UT
USA