Australia's Science Forum

Hi All

I need to have aceto orcein stain, by Friday and of course I dont have any, something else for my order list, does anyone know of an alternative stain for observing chromosomes and cell division, any help would be greatly appreciated

thanks Lisa

Hi Lisa,
We used to do this prac, but never had much success. So we purchased prepared slides.
Sorry I can't help with an alternative stain (I don't think there is one).
Ellice.

There may be a few options, depending upon which type of cells to stain??? I did a quick search on google for 'stains for chromosomes' and there seems to be maybe something you can use...

Good luck

Try ringing a histopathology department, either in a hospital or private lab. They will have recipes for staining cells in division.