Visual enhancement of myelinated tissues in the central nervous system of the rat using Sudan black B.

Abstract : This report investigated the quantitative distribution of radio labelled compounds in the central nervous system of the rate using autoradiographic techniques. To complement our autoradiographic images, we searched for a suitable fiber stain delineating myelinated structures using fresh frozen tissue. Surprisingly, the majority of staining procedures were exclusive to fixed tissues. These techniques applied to fresh frozen brain tissue produced poor differentiation of myelinated and nonmyelinated areas and were generally unsatisfactory. Therefore, we preformed a series of studies using lipid soluble dyes such as oil red O, Luxol fast blue, hematoxylin and Nile blue in an effort to enhance differentiation of myelin. We found Sudan black B to be superior to enhance differentiation of myelin. We found Sudan black B to be superior for our purpose.