STUDIES ON VITAL STAINING : V. DOUBLE STAINING WITH BRILLIANT VITAL RED AND NIAGARA SKY BLUE. CORRELATION OF...

Vital staining reactions of brilliant vital red and Niagara sky blue are studied in dogs and in rabbits. Either dye alone is taken up to form red or blue granules within the cytoplasm of macrophages and of certain other cell types. When the two dyes are injected simultaneously into the blood stream one finds that these cells build up granules which are purple from admixture of the two dyes. When several daily injections of one dye are followed by several daily injections of the other, one finds blue granules and red granules side by side within the cells, but no purple granules are found. This is thought to indicate that the dye is deposited in small foci which are active in a rather transitory way, and that the color of the granule is determined during its formative stage by the type of dye present in the fluids about the cell. The enlargement of phagocytic cells and the increase in their number with large dosage, or with repeated offerings of the dye, represents a method by which the cells maintain their phagocytic powers at the normal level. Evidence is offered to indicate that these and perhaps other compensatory changes may take place with great rapidity, so that it has been impossible to "block" or even reduce noticeably the ability of these cells to take up additional quantities of dye. Certain pitfalls in the experimental study of "blockade" are pointed out.