Elimination of precipitates in oil red O fat stain by adding dextrin.

Addition of dextrin in the final 60% isopropanol of the Lillie-Ashburn super-saturated oil red O isopropanol technic moderately intensified the stain and decreased our required staining interval. Precipitates were decreased and the diluted solution remained usable into the second week. A saturated 60% isopropanol oil red O solution contained 33 mg/100 ml. Without dextrin the fresh supersaturated solution contains 40 mg, after 3 days 25 mg. With dextrin the fresh solution contained 130 mg dye, the 10-day-old one 100 mg/100 ml.