Schiff - 1292

Staining solution for citology/histology

The PAS (periodic acid Schiff) reaction is one of the most frequently used chemical methods for the detection of aldehyde and mucosubstances in histology.

The Schiff’s reagent for microscopy is a ready-to-use staining solution that can be used to stain mucopolysaccharides in histological tissue specimens.

In the PAS reaction, the histological specimen material is first treated with periodic acid, resulting in the oxidation of the 1,2-glycols into aldehyde groups.

The addition of Schiff’s reagent (fuchsin-sulfuric acid) in the second step causes the aldehydes to react to form a brilliant red colour.

In the end result, the PAS reaction yields a specific color reaction with unsubstituted polysaccharides, neutral mucopolysaccharides, muco- and glycoproteins, and glyco- and phospholipids.

The PAS reaction can be further combined with the Alcian blue staining method to detect mucosubstances (glycosaminoglycans).