A Quadruple Tissue Stain for Strong Color Contrasts

With the increasing use of Kodachrome photomicrographs for revealing the finer structure of organs, it seemed useful to develop a staining method to bring out the tissue elements in strong contrasting colors. As four dyes are used, the method has come to be called the “Quad” stain, in the author's laboratory. The method has been used for two years on quite a variety of tissues, most of which have yielded excellent color films for teaching purposes. The slides have not faded. During this period two satisfactory new dyes have been obtained to supplant imported products originally used, namely, synthetic orcein of MacAndrews and Forbes and National Aniline acid alizarin blue 2B.