MUCICARMINE 



215 



MUCUS 



colors. See Color Preservation. See 



Plastics for museum work. 



Mucicarmine for mucus, Mayer's (Mallory 

 and Parker in McClung, p. 417). To 

 make up stain, mix carmine, 1 gm.; 

 aluminum chloride, 0.5 gm. ; and aq. 

 dest., 2 cc. Heat over flame for 2 min. 

 Color of solution darkens. Add grad- 

 ually 100 cc. 50% ale. stirring constantly 

 until dissolved. After 24 hrs. filter. 

 Filtrate keeps well. Stain parafTin sec- 

 tions of absolute alcohol fixed tissue in 

 carmine sol. 5-10 min. Wash in water, 

 dehydrate, clear and mount. Mucus 

 is red. When nuclei also are colored red, 

 add few drops 1% aq. sodium bicarbon- 

 ate to the stain. It is customary to 

 stain cells and nuclei before hand with 

 alum hematoxylin. Bensley (Cowdry's 

 Special Cytology, 1932, p. 203) uses 

 alcoholic chrome sublimate (sat. mer- 

 curic chloride and potassium bichromate 

 in 95% ale.) and increases the content of 

 carmine 5 times. 



Mucigen, intracellular antecedent of Mucin. 



Mucihematein for mucus, Mayer's, Mal- 

 lory and Parker in McClung, p. 416). 

 Alake up : (A) hematein, 0.2 gm. ; alumi- 

 num chloride, 0.1 gm.; glycerin, 40 cc; 

 aq. dest., 60 cc. and (B) hematein, 0.2 

 gm.; aluminum chloride, 0.1 gm.; 70% 

 alcohol, 70 cc; nitric acid, 1-2 drops. 

 A is advised except when the mucus 

 swells much in which case use B. 

 Stain paraffin sections of absolute alco- 

 hol fixed tissue 5-10 min. Wash in 

 water. Dehydrate in 95% ale. and in 

 abs. Clear in xylol and mount in bal- 

 sam. Mucus stains blue. The other 

 materials are colorless. _ Preliminary 

 coloration with carmine is suggested. 

 Bensley (Cowdry's Special Cytology, 

 1932, p. 203) used alcoholic chrome sub- 

 limate fixation (sat. mercuric chloride 

 and potassium bichromate in 95% ale.) 

 and increased the content of hematein 

 five times. 



Mucin, one of several glycoproteins found in 

 mucus. See Mucus and Mucicarmine, 

 Mucihematein and Mucisudan stains, 

 also Polysaccharides. 



Mucinase. Enzyme (s) which hydrolyze 

 mucus or mucoproteins. They are not 

 very well understood, and specific 

 preparations are not yet available. 

 Purified enzymes, capable of differenti- 

 ating the various mucopolysaccharides 

 one from another would be very valu- 

 able. 



Mucisudan is a dye of undetermined compo- 

 sition made by hydrolysis of sudan 

 black B with acetic acid and recom- 

 mended as a new stain for mucin (Leach, 

 E. H., J. Path, and Bact., 1938, 47, 

 637-639). 

 Mucoproteins. A method for histological 



distinction between the chondroitin 

 sulphuric acid protein of connective 

 tissue mucus and the mucotin sulphuric 

 acid protein of epithelial ti-ssues has been 

 worked out by L. H. Hempelmaiin, Jr., 

 Anat. Rec, 1940, 78, 197-206. Briefly 

 stated toluidin blue in 1:280,000 will 

 stain the former vividly and the latter 

 not at all. Click, p. 46, notes that con- 

 firmation of Hempelmann's work is still 

 lacking. 



Metachromatic staining with toluid 

 in blue is specific for mucoid compounds 

 containing polysaccharide esters of 

 sulfuric acid provided that Lison's tech- 

 nique is followed closely in the opin- 

 ion of Sylvan, B., Acta Radiol., 1945, 

 suppl. 59, 100 pp. Fix tissue (12-24 

 hrs.) in equal parts 8% aq. basic lead 

 acetate and 14-16% formalin. Stain 

 some paraffin sections (30 min.) in 0.1% 

 toluidin blue in 1% ale. and others in 

 0.1% toluidin blue in 30% ale (first 

 allowing these stains to age for several 

 days). Wash in ale briefly, mount in 

 natural cedar oil. See Michaelis, L. 

 and Granick, S., J. Am. Chem. Soc, 

 1945, 67, 1212-1219 and Hess, M. and 

 Hollander, F., J. Lab. & Clin. Med., 

 1947, 32, 905-909 for data about meta- 

 chromasia. Leach, E. H., Stain 

 Techn., 1947, 22, 73-76 has advocated 

 Bismark brown as a stain for muco- 

 proteins. 

 Mucus means slime. It is a viscid, stringy 

 material which ordinarily stains with 

 basic dyes and is found in many parts of 

 the body. The chemical composition 

 of mucus is not uniform. It may consist 

 of one of several glycoproteins, called 

 mucins, which are by contrast definite 

 chemical substances. The term mu- 

 cous is an adjective describing a cell or 

 tissue which produces or contains 

 mucus. Mucigen is the intracellular 

 antecedent of a mucin. Since there are 

 several mucins there are several corre- 

 sponding mucigens. 



Pathologists sometimes divide mucins 

 into two categories, epithelial and con- 

 nective. The connective tissue type is 

 found in the ground substance of bone, 

 synovial fluid and in other locations. 

 It increases in amount in the myxedema 

 (G. myxa, mucus -|- oidema, swelling) 

 of certain thyroid deficiencies as well 

 as in arteriosclerosis and various tumors. 

 The ubiquitous fibroblast is said to be a 

 great former of mucins. Epithelial 

 mucins are produced by epithelial 

 secretory cells. The goblet cells are 

 easily recognized by the fact that the 

 material to be discharged is held in a 

 goblet like expansion of the cell. Other 

 mucous cells can be distinguished from 



