Comparison of methods for staining microvessels in bone

摘要

Detection of microvessels is critical for studying bone tissue. We developed an intravascular ink-based method coupled with Van Gieson (VG) staining and compared it with other commonly used methods for capillary visualization. The ink perfusate was formulated as 10% ink, 10% formaldehyde and 20% mannitol. The ink solution was perfused into a healthy goat and the tibia was subjected to decalcification, dehydration, paraffin embedding, de-waxing and staining to observe microvessels. Angiogenesis was assessed by vascular area image analysis and the hematoxylin and eosin (HE), Masson, and VG staining techniques were compared to determine the reliability of these methods for counting microvessels. We found that HE, Masson, and VG staining produced poor contrast between the microvessels and surrounding tissues. By contrast, ink coupled with VG staining permitted clear discrimination between the microvessels and surrounding tissues. Our results indicate that ink-VG staining could be more useful than other methods for detecting tissue microvessels.