Giemsa stain
Giemsa is generically useful stain for chromosomes and for whole cells. Giemsa stain concentrations are generally listed in percent values and refer to dilutions of the stock solution listed below, which is defined as 100%.
- Percent giemsa stain does NOT refer to the actual percentage of dye with respect to solution.
Note: making giemsa stain solution from the powdered dyes (as described below) is a big hassle and tough to do well due to solubility issues. It is much easier to buy the stain commercially in solution already at 1% w/v. This solution is "100%" (as described below).
Making giemsa stock solution from powered dyes (not recommended):
- Giemsa stain stock solution (100%)
- dissolve 1 g of Giemsa dye powder in 66 ml glycerol at 60C for two hours, let cool to room temperature
- add 66 ml methanol. shake at 37C until all the dye has dissolved
- there will generally be some large undissolved crystals left which will subsequently be filtered out
- filter through several layers of filter paper and a 0.45μm filter and store at room temperature in a brown glass bottle
Comments
- Really: buy the pre-made giemsa solution.