Ruthenium red and the bacterial glycocalyx. Biotech Histochem 1999 Jul;74(4):194-212
Date
11/11/1999Pubmed ID
10555860DOI
10.3109/10520299909047974Scopus ID
2-s2.0-0032737842 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 53 CitationsAbstract
Ruthenium red, a promising cationic reagent for electron microscopy (EM), has long been an important tool in histology. The reagent was initially used by botanists as a semispecific stain for pectic substances, but it has gradually been embraced by investigators in microbiology and the animal sciences as a stain for anionic glycosylated polymeric substances. Luft developed a reliable method and demonstrated that ruthenium red was a useful reagent for visualizing ultrastructural detail. Many investigators, using modifications of Luft's approach, have identified numerous applications for this important reagent. Ruthenium red has been used to show the ultrastructural detail of bacterial glycocalyces. Strong, sharp and consistent observations of this ultrastructural component of the bacterial cell have given a better understanding its fibrous anionic matrix. Any variations in staining owing to artifactual alteration of the fine delicate ultrastructural features have been overcome by incorporation of diamine lysine into ruthenium red methods, thus providing flexible processing times under less than ideal laboratory sampling conditions. Ruthenium red has broad utility in the biological sciences, and in combination with lysine, it is an excellent EM stain for enhanced visualization of bacterial glycocalyx from culture or from clinical specimens.
Author List
Fassel TA, Edmiston CE JrAuthor
Charles Edmiston PhD, MD Emeritus Professor in the Surgery department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AnimalsBacteria
Coloring Agents
Glycocalyx
Histological Techniques
History, 19th Century
History, 20th Century
Humans
Indicators and Reagents
Lysine
Ruthenium Red
