Histochemistry for The Proteoglycans

Abstract

Previously, it has been well known that the acidic glycoconjugates such as acidic glycoproteins, proteoglycans and acidic glyolipids, widely distributed in the tissues and organs. These molecules play the important functions such as tissue structure holding, tissue fluid filtration, water retention and cell membrane receptor in the living organs and tissues. Histochemistry is one of tissue preparation methods using the chemical and biochemical reactions and detecting some molecules and/or reacting groups on the tissue structures. However, it is difficult to visualize proteoglycan molecules on the tissue structures accurately. In this paper, the light-microscopic histochemical methods for the detection of proteoglycans on the tissue structures using dyestuff and selective methods are introduced.