Histochemistry staining

Because cells are inherently transparent, different staining techniques are used to color cellular components so we can study them with a microscope. While “Routine Staining” techniques reveal the general architecture of most cells, “Special Staining” techniques are designed to isolate specific cellular components or properties of a particular cell.

For Skeletal muscle fibers, we use three conventional histochemical assays to identify three fundamental skeletal muscle properties:

1. mATPase - used to distinguish between slow and fast muscle fibers.
2. aGDPH - identifies a muscle fibers relative glycolytic potential.
3. Succinate dehydrogenase - used to distinguish between oxidative and non-oxidative muscle fibers.