Elastic-fibre staining

A special staining technique used to identify elastic fibres. The table below shows the dyes which selectively stain elastic fibres.

Dyes	Colours of Elastic Fibres
Orcein	red-brown
Resorcin-fuchsin	blackish-blue to violet
Aldehydfuchsin	red to violet

Combinations with further dyes and staining techniques:

hemalaun	dye for staining cell nuclei result: Cell nuclei turn intense blue.
nuclear fast red	used as a counterstain with Weigerts elastica dye result: Cell nuclei turn red.