JSCHUMA1@FAIRVIEW.ORG wrote:
> Has anyone heard of a nile red stain? 
> 
Yes. It's the oxidation product of nile blue.
You can make your own or buy it. It's used
as a stain for lipids or as a fluorescent
probe for hydrophobic sites (in proteins,
as well as lipids). Solid cholesterol 
crystals pick up enough nile red to 
fluoresce but they are not made visible
in ordinary light microscopy.

In Cain's nile blue method, nile red is
responsible for the red or pink coloration
of hydrophobic lipids; free fatty acids
and phospholipids are stained blue by
the unoxidized nile blue. 
-- 
-------------------------
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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