Cresyl Violet Stain

Cresyl Violet is a good general purpose Nissl stain for fixed or fresh frozen tissue. It will stain cell bodies blue and myelenated fibres red.

Solutions:

A. Acid Acetone

• 100 ml Glacial Acetic Acid
• 100 ml Acetone

B. 0.1%Cresyl Violet

• 1 gm Cresyl Violet
• 1 litre distilled H₂0

Dissolve cresyl violet in water this will take several hours on a stir plate. When you finally give up trying to get it all into solution, filter the solution using a Buchner funnel. This solution has a long shelf life.

C. 10% Acetic Acid

• 180 ml distilled H₂0
• 20 ml Glacial Acetic Acid

(Always add acid to water)!!

Staining Procedure:

• 1. 5 min. in solution A
• 2. 1-2 min in distilled H₂0
• 3. 5-10 min in solution B
• 4. 30 sec - 3min in solution C
• 5. 15 sec in Acetone
• 6. 30 sec in Acetone
• 7. 1 min in Xylene
• 8. 1 min in Xylene

After the slides have been sitting in the 2nd Xylene bath for 1 minute, you can start coverslipping the sections. It will be easier if you remove the slides from the xylene bath one at a time and coverslip them wet.

---

Steve Milway

Last modified: Wednesday, December 17, 2003