Aniline Blue solution

Aniline blue (also known as cotton blue and ink blue) is a component of commonly used polychrome stains. It is used to stain collagen fibers in tissue sections using Masson′s trichrome protocol for staining multiple components. Collagen is stained blue by this method. The dye is suitable for selective staining of callose in plant specimens and staining histones for assessing nuclear maturity. Heidenhain′s AZAN stain and the Mallory′s polychrome stain both entail staining steps using aniline blue-orange G mixtures. Aniline blue is used in Gomori′s one-step trichrome stain and Mallory′s connective tissue stain for tissue including kidney and intestine.

Aniline Blue is the traditional name applied to anionic dyes produced by successive phenylation and sulfonation of basic fuchsine. Aniline blue consists of sulfonation products of variable mixtures of phenylated rosaniline and pararosaniline. It is a mixture of methyl blue and water blue. The dye is also known as cotton blue, and ink blue. Methyl blue of aniline blue belongs to the group of triaminotriphenylmethane dyes.