Commercial Varieties of Nuclear Fast Red; Their Behaviour in Staining After Autoradiography

Abstract

Dye marketed as nuclear fast red were investigated as nuclear stains particularly in autoradiography where the uptake of hematoxylin hindered visualization of the grains; in this case the uptake of S35 by the epiphyseal plate of the tibia of mice. A 0.1% solution of the anthraquinone dye CI 60760 (Nuclear fast red; G. T. Gurr) in saturated potassium aluminum sulfate gave a good nuclear stain and was used in the staining sequence Alcian blue, nuclear fast red, tartrazine. These dyes barely colored the emulsions used (both stripping film and gel-form emulsion) so that visualization of the silver grains and histological detail were good. The strains were applied after development and other processing of the emulsion was complete.