The value of simple lipid stains for typing skeletal muscle fibres

Skeletal muscle fibre types can be distinguished rapidly with simple lipid stains. Comparative studies showed that Sudan Black B is superior to Oil Red O for this purpose and that optimum staining is obtained using unfixed section or sections fixed in calcium-glutaraldehyde. Factors that possibly influence the staining reaction, such as freeze-thawing, are considered. The stained lipids were identified by thin layer chromatography.