The organic dye Brilliant Blue and its derivatives have been used for many years to stain proteins on polyacrylamide electrophoresis gels. Recently, collodial suspensions of the dye have replaced simple solutions for this staining procedure due to improved results. The Brilliant Blue-protein complex has an absorption maxima between 560 and 575 nanometers with an extremely high extinction coefficient. Other uses for Brilliant Blue dyes are detection of lipids in thin layer chromatography and for detection of proteins in solution and on cellulose acetate plates.

Polarized light images were captured using an Intel Play QX3 computer microscope modified for crossed polarized illumination. Additional light was applied to the specimens using light pipes from a Dolan-Jenner Model 180 fiber optics illuminator containing a 150 watt projection lamp. A 5/16-inch hole was drilled into the light mixing chamber at the base of the microscope and the light pipe was pointed towards the far wall of the chamber to increase illumination.

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