Aniline Blue WS

Water blue
Methyl blue

Aniline Blue WS, also called aniline blue, China blue, or Soluble blue, is a mixture of methyl blue and water blue. It may also be either one of them.[1] It is a soluble dye used as a biological dye,[2] in fluorescence microscopy, appearing a yellow-green colour after excitation with violet light.[3] It is a mixture of the trisulfonates of triphenyl rosaniline and of diphenyl rosaniline.[4]

Aniline blue or its constituents are used to stain collagen, as the fibre stain in Masson's trichrome,[5] as well as to reveal callose structures in plant tissues.[6]

It can be used in the Mallory's connective tissue stain[7] and Gömöri trichrome stain. It is used in differential staining.

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