Differential staining of dead and dying embryonic cells with a simple new technique
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Updated: Nov 4, 2026

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Use of LysoTracker to Detect Programmed Cell Death in Embryos and Differentiating Embryonic Stem Cells
Published on: October 11, 2012
Journal of Microscopy
|April 1, 1986
Abstract:
A new staining technique with toluidine blue and safranin is described which yields satisfactory results in histological sections of chick embryo tissue fixed in a mixture of glutaraldehyde and formaldehyde and embedded in Spurr's resin. In zones of embryonic cell death, this technique allows the blue-staining of dying cell pyknotic nuclei to be clearly distinguished from red-staining healthy cells. The possible factors underlying this differential staining of pyknotic nuclei are discussed.
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