Use of arylsulphonic acids for histochemical demonstration of cholesterol and its esters

A histochemical technique is being described using for the demonstration of cholesterol and its esters a reagent composed of sulphuric acid and 2,5-dimethylbenzene sulphonic acid or p-toluene sulphonic acid dissolved in glacial acetic acid. The results of this method have been compared with other methods for cholesterol identification and verified by extraction and chromatographic techniques. The main advantage of the presented procedure is a better preservation of sections, due to the use of smaller amounts of sulphuric acid, permitting thus a more exact histological localization of cholesterol.