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Watch this page for the latest information about biological stains or about the Biological Stain Commission.

Annual Meeting June 2012

Annual Meeting 2012

The next annual meeting of the BSC will be in Pittsford, near Rochester, NY on 1st June 2012 with the theme Fluorochromes. The provisional program and for information about the hotel will be posted when available. Click here.

Journal access

If you are a member, the BSC supplements your annual subscription to include the printed and online versions of the journal Biotechnic & Histochemistry. The online subscription includes the complete archive of Biotechnic & Histochemistry and its predecessor (1925-1991), Stain Technology, Fully searchable PDF files are available for every published article. This archive constitutes a substantial proportion of the technical literature in the field of biological staining for bacteriology, electron microscopy, histology, light microscopy, parasitology, pathology, plant sciences and zoology.
The online journal also has pre-publication PDF files of accepted manuscripts that will appear in future issues of Biotechnic & Histochemistry.

To register for online access to Biotechnic & Histochemistry and Stain Technology, follow the Members Only link on the BSC website's Home or Publications page. Provide and submit the requested data. If you are identified as a member in good standing you will receive an email containing a web link. Clicking on this link establishes your access to the journal by way of the BSC web site. You will know that you have access because when you log in to the journal there will be a green (F) symbol (for full access) to the left of each voliume and issue.

Registration will fail if you have not paid your annual dues, or if you submit data that differ from those on record for you in the BSC's membership database. If you have difficulty obtaining PDF files from Biotechnic & Histochemistry or Stain Technology, contact the BSC's webmaster to resolve the problem.

Your BSC username and password provide access to the journal only through the BSC web site. They will not be recognized if you visit the journal directly by way of the publisher's web site.

Certified dyes

A new style of label for bottles of certified stains was introduced in January 2009. For more information about the new labels, click here.

Alcian blue 8G (CI 74240). An additional test (formation of an insoluble pigment on addition of alkali) has been introduced, and the acceptable range of the absorption maximum has been extended. Some samples of this dye were received with absorption maxima outside the range (611-620 nm) previously specified (Penney et al 2002) for certification. These dyes passed other tests and performed well in the required staining methods. The acceptable range of the absorption maximum for alcian blue has been extended to 610-630 nm (Lyon & Kiernan 2008).
References. Lyon HO, Kiernan JA (2008) News from the Biological Stain Commission. Biotechnic & Histochemistry 83(3-4):201- 203.
Penney DP, Powers JM, Frank M, Willis C, Churukian C (2002) Analysis and testing of biological stains—The Biological Stain Commission Procedures. Biotechnic & Histochemistry 77(5-6): 237-275.

Nuclear fast red (CI 60760) has been added to the list of dyes for which the Biological Stain Commission offers testing and certification. The criteria for certification were published in 2007. Vendors are encouraged to submit samples for certification.
Reference. Dapson RD, Fagan C, Kiernan JA Wickersham TW, Kiernan JA. Certification procedures for nuclear fast red (Kernechtrot), CI 60760. Biotechnic & Histochemistry 82(1): 35-39).

Sirius red F3B (CI 35780, Direct red 80. A paper describing criteria for certification has been published (May 2011). This dye is in widespread use for staining collagen fibers and it is also used in a staining method for amyloid. Vendors are encouraged to submit samples for certification.
Reference. Frank M, Dapson RD, Wickersham TW, Kiernan JA. Certification procedures for sirius red F3B (CI 35780, Direct red 80). Biotechnic & Histochemistry 86(3): 133-139).

Thionine (CI 52000). The spectrophotometric assay developed for this dye in 1950 was for the chloride (MW 263.7 ), which was the usual form of the dye at that time. Since about 1960, however, thionine has been manufactured as its acetate (MW 287.3). For assaying thionine (Stotz 1950), the absorbance (at maximum) of a 5 mg/l solution in water (in a 1.0 cm cell) was multiplied by 97 to calculate the percentage (w/w) content of thionine chloride in the dye powder. For thionine acetate the correct factor is 106, which is now being used. The dye contents of previously assayed batches of thionine acetate were underestimated by about 7%. Fortunately this error did not result in rejection of any samples, because the minimum dye content for certification is 85% whereas thionine acetate is usually manufactured with dye content close to 99% (Lyon & Kiernan 2008).
References. Stotz E, Conn HJ, Knapp F, Emery AJ (1950) Spectrophotometric characteristics and assay of biological stains. Stain Technology 25: 57-68.
Lyon HO, Kiernan JA (2008) News from the Biological Stain Commission. Biotechnic & Histochemistry 83(6): 285-288.

Updated links

The "Useful links" page was updated on 8th December 2010. The list of linked web sites can be seen by clicking the Useful Links tab at the bottom of any page of the BSC's web site.

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Last updated 20th October 2011