An optimized method for Oil Red O staining with the salicylic acid ethanol solution

ABSTRACT

Oil Red O (ORO) staining is a commonly used experimental technique to detect lipid content in cells or tissues. Freshly prepared ORO in 60% isopropanol is the most widely used method at present. However, isopropanol is volatile and harmful to the human body. It will also affect the interpretation of the results due to the formation of crystals and non-specific diffuse staining. In this paper, by screening and validation, we report a salicylic acid ethanol solution (containing 50% ethanol, 5%-10% salicylic acid) for the preparation of ORO solution, which has a better staining effect on lipid staining in cells and tissues, with a clean background and short dyeing time. What’s more, this ORO solution is non-toxic, convenient to prepare, and can be stored for a long time. Therefore, it is reliable, easy to operate, and can be widely popularized and applied in laboratories.

KEYWORDS:

• Oil red O staining
• ethanol
• salicylic acid
• isopropanol
• lipid droplet

Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the help of the research assistants Xiaohan Yue, Li Wang, and Daochao Huang in conducting this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the raw data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article (and/or) its supplementary materials which can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/21623945.2023.2179334

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/21623945.2023.2179334

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural scientific research program of Research Project of Chongqing Science and Technology Commission (No. cstc2021jcyj-msxmX0225 to YB).