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Oil Red O

Dye

Oil Red O

Class: Azo
Ionisation: Lysochrome

Chemical structure of Oil Red O

Common Name: Oil red O
Suggested Name: Oil red O
Other Names:

–

C.I. Number: 26125
C.I. Name: Solvent red 27
Color: Red
Solubility Aqueous: Insoluble
Solubility Ethanol: Insoluble
Absorption Maximum: 518 (359)
Empirical Formula: C26H24N4O
Formula Weight: 408.51

Description

Oil red O is a lysochrome (fat soluble dye) predominantly used for demonstrating triglycerides in frozen sections, but may also stain some protein bound lipids in paraffin sections. It has largely replaced sudan III and sudan IV as it is much deeper red in colour, and consequently more clearly visible.

Compare this dye to the other common lysochromes sudan III, sudan IV, and sudan black B.

Oil red O staining of day 11 differentiated adipocytes, 40x magnification

oil-red-o-staining-d11-differentiated-adipocytes-40x-mag-600x400

Figure 1. Oil Red O Staining of Day 11 Differentiated Adipocytes

FLipid droplets (in red) in day 11 differentiated adipocytes were visualized with Oil red O staining. 40X magnification. This image was contributed by Arthur Sampaio at at STEMCELL Technologies.

References

  1. R. D. Lillie.
    Conn’s Biological Stains
    Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, MD., U.S.A.
  2. Aldrich chemical catalogue, 1992
    Aldrich Chemical Company, Milwaukee, WI, USA.