I agree with Samurai, Prussian Blue will only stain iron, it is very specific and will not stain the other components listed.
I have used it to verify aluminum staining reaction in bone, sometimes it is iron and not really aluminum, but the aluminum reaction I used would stain aluminum and iron, the Prussian blue reaction would not stain aluminum, only iron, so we had to do the two together to verify that the positive al staining was really AL and not iron deposited in the bone, this happens to renal patients on dialysis when they cannot metabolize out the AL it deposits at the surface of the bone and can prevent formation of new bone, and there are some diseases where iron is deposited in the bone the same way AL is. Happy New Year! Patsy Patsy Ruegg, HT(ASCP)QIHC IHCtech 12635 Montview Blvd. Ste.215 Aurora, CO 80045 720-859-4060 fax 720-859-4110 www.ihctech.net www.ihcrg.org -----Original Message----- From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Robert Richmond Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 3:26 PM To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu Subject: SPAM-LOW: [Histonet] Re: Stain to differentiate Hemoglobin from Hemosiderin? Jerry Ricks, Research Scientist, University of Washington,Department of Pathology asks: >>I've seen Prussian blue as a stain for hemosiderin but that would also stain hemoglobin.<< The Perls prussian blue reaction occurs with hemosiderin ("stainable iron") but not with hemoglobin, hematin, formalin pigment, malarial pigment, or melanin. It isn't a stain, but a reaction between ferric iron and ferrocyanide ion that produces a dense blue precipitate. The Stainsfile page doesn't really answer your questions, and I'd suggest looking it up in some of the standard textbooks. Bob Richmond Samurai Pathologist Knoxville TN _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet