Von Kossa stain

The von Kossa stain is used to quantify mineralization in cell culture and tissue sections.

History and method

The method was originally developed by von Kossa,[1] and underwent several modifications.[2][3][4] The stain principle is a precipitation reaction in which silver ions react with phosphate (not calcium) in the presence of acidic material [5] Photochemical degradation of silver phosphate to silver then occurs under light illumination. This method is not specific for calcium itself but tissues are treated with a silver nitrate solution and the silver is deposited by replacing the calcium reduced by the strong light, and so can be visualized as metallic silver. Additional methods need to be employed to confirm the presence of calcium, such as Alizarin Red, which detects calcium deposits.

References

  1. ↑ von Kossa J (1901) Ueber die im Organismus kunstlich erzeugbaren Verkalkungen. Beit Path Anat 29:163
  2. ↑ Clark G (1981) Staining Procedures. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, MD, pp 187
  3. ↑ Lillie R, Fuller H (1976) Histopathologic technique and practical histochemistry. McGraw-Hill, New York
  4. ↑ Mallory FB (1983) Pathological techniques: A practical manual for workers in pathological histology including directions for the performance of autopsies and for microphotography. In: Mallory NY (eds) WB Saunders, Philadelphia, PA, pp 143–144
  5. ↑ Meloan SN, Puchtler H (1985) Chemical mechanisms of staining methods: von Kossa’s technique. What von Kossa really wrote and a modified reaction for selective demonstration of inorganic phosphate. J Histotechol 8:11–13
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