Selective staining technique for identification of human skin elastic fibers

The staining methods proposed for the histological detection of elastic fibers are not entirely selective for the elastic fiber system and stain other tissue components also as for example nuclei and collagenous components. We worked out several staining methods which enable us to obtain a selective staining of all the elastic and pre-elastic fibers with no staining of the background by using in the staining solution polyphenols like: pyrogallol, (+) catechin, tannic acid and others. As the background is colourless, our method is suitable for the quantitation of elastic system fibers by automated computerized image analysis.