DYE SOLUTIONS

The following information indicates the stability of staining solutions used in several commonly used staining methods.  There may be some variation of the shelf-life indicated because of variations of the temperature in the room or refrigerator in which they are stored and because of the quality of the distilled water, chemicals and the dyes with which they have been prepared.

Acid fuchsin, Frazer-Lendrum --------        1 year

Acid fuchsin-picric acid (Verhoeff)--------        1 month

Alcian blue 1% (Mowry) --------        6 months

Aldehyde fuchsin (Gomori) --------        2 months

Aldehyde thionin (Shikata) --------        1 month

Alizarin red S, 1% (Dahal) --------        1 year

Aniline blue (Masson) --------        2 months

Auramine O-rhodamine B (Truant) --------        6 months

Basic fuchsin, 0.5% (Brown-Brenn)--------        3 months

Biebrich scarlet-acid fuchsin (Masson) --------        2 months

Carbol-fuchsin (Ziehl-Neelsen) --------        6 months

Congo red (Eastwood) --------        6 months

Cresyl violet acetate  -----------------------------------------------------------6 months

Crystal violet, Hucker-Conn (Gram) --------        6 months

Crystal violet (Lieb) --------        1 year

Diff-Quick fixative solution --------        1 year

Diff-Quick solution I (eosin Y) --------        1 year

Diff-Quick solution II (azure A-methylene blue) --------        1 year

Eosin Y, alcoholic, stock --------        1 year

Eosin Y, alcoholic, working --------        6 months

Eriochrome black T (Truant) --------        6 months

Erythrosin B, 1% (Kreyberg) --------        2 months

Fast green, stock (counterstain) --------        4 months

Fast green, working (counterstain) --------        2 weeks

Gallocyanin (Einarson) --------        1 week

Giemsa, stock (Wolbach) --------        1 year

Giemsa, working (Wolbach) --------        1 day

Gomoris trichrome, refrigerate --------        6 months

Hematoxylin (Harris) --------        6 months

Hematoxylin (Lillie-Mayer) --------        1 year

Hematoxylin (Mallory PTAH) --------        1 year

Hematoxylin, 5% alcoholic (Verheoff) --------        6 months

Hematoxylin (Weigert) --------        1 week

Light green (Frazer-Lendrum) --------        1 year

Luxol fast blue (myelin) --------        1 year

Metanil yellow (Kreyberg) --------        6 months

Methyl green (DNA) --------        6 months

Methylene blue (Ziehl-Neelsen) --------        6 months

Mucicarmine (Southgate), refrigerate--------        4 months

Mucicarmine (Southgate), working solution ------------------------------------ 1 week

Nile blue ------------------------------------------------------------------------------        6 months

Nuclear fast red (counterstain) --------        4 months

Oil red O, stock --------        1 year +

Oil red O, working --------        1 year

Orange G (Wilson-Ezrin) --------        6 months

Orange G-picric acid (Frazer-Lendrum) --------        1 year

Orcein (Shikata) --------        6 months

Picric acid-acetone (Brown-Brenn) --------        6 months

Picric acid, saturated aqueous --------        1 year

Ponceau S ----------------------------------------------------------------------------        6 months

Pyronin Y (RNA) --------        6 months

Schiffs solution (modified Lillie) --------        1 year

Sudan black B, alcoholic --------        1 year

Tartarazine, Southgate --------        6 months

Thioflavin S (amyloid) --------        1 week

Thioflavin T (Vassar-Culling)--------        3 months

Toluidine blue (mast cells) --------        6 months

Verhoeffs elastic --------        2 hours

Chemical and Other Solutions

Acetic acid, 1% (Vassar-Culling) --------        6 months

Acetic acid, 3% (Mowry) --------        6 months

Acetone-xylene (Brown-Brenn) --------        6 months

Acid alcohol --------        6 months

Ammonia-alcohol (Kreyburg)--------        3 months

Ammoniacal silver (Churukian), refrigerate --------        1 month

Ammoniacal silver (Fontana-Masson), refrigerate --------        1 month

Ammoniacal silver (Gomori), refrigerate --------        1 week

Bouins --------        6 months

Buffer solutions, refrigerate --------         months to years

Chromic acid-potassium dichromate-sulfuric acid --------        6 months

Diastase of malt (PAS-D) --------        1 day

Ethyl alcohol-acetone (Brown-Brenn)--------        6 months

Ferric chloride, 10% (Verhoeff) --------        6 months

Formalin, 10% --------        6 months

Formalin, 10% (Gomoris reticulum) --------        6 months

Fouchets (Hall) --------        1 day

Gold chloride, 0.2% (keep in the dark) --------        6 months

Gold chloride, 1% (keep in the dark)--------        1 year

Gum mastic, 2.5% (Steiner), refrigerate--------        6 months

Grams iodine --------        2 months

Hydrochloric acid, 2% (Pearl)--------        3 months

Hydrochloric acid, 1N (PAS) --------        1 year

Hydrochloric acid, 5N (Feulgen) --------        1 year

Lithium carbonate, saturated aqueous --------        6 months

Lugols iodine --------        6 months

Methenamine-silver nitrate, stock (GMS), refrigerate --------        1 month

Mineral oil-xylene (Fite) --------        1 year

Oxalic acid, 1% and 2%-------------------------------------------------------  6 months

Periodic acid, 0.5% (PAS) --------        6 months

Periodic acid, 4% (MAS) --------        6 months

Phosphoric acid, 1% ----------------------------------------------------------  6 months

Phosphotungstic acid, 5% --------        6 months

Potassium ferrocyanide, 1% (Pearl) --------        3 months

Potassium metabisulfite, 2% --------        2 months

Potassium permanganate, 0.25% --------        1 week

Potassium permanganate, 0.3%, acidified --------        1 week

Potassium permanganate, 0.5% --------        1 month

Sodium bisulfite, 1% (GMS) --------        2 months

Sodium borate, 3% (GMS) --------        6 months

Sodium thiosulfate, 2% --------        6 months

Sodium thiosulfate, 5% --------        6 months

Trichloroacetic acid, 25% (Hall) --------        6 months

Triton X-100, 10% --------        6 months

Uranyl nitrate-copper nitrate (Steiner) --------        1 months

Zenkers with acetic acid --------        1 year