Dear Elaine,
vital stains will work in the region of the hair bulb where you have  
some live cells. Incubate the freshly plucked hair with labels diluted  
in culture medium, rinse, then fix with paraformaldehyde.  Some  
general protein stain such as eosin might be helpful in the acellular  
shaft.  Your bigger problem will be the spherical aberration arising  
from refractive index of the hair.  You may need to try different  
clearing agents such as glycerol dilutions, immersion oil or even  
higher RI reagents.

Regards,
Glen

On Dec 3, 2008, at 1:27 PM, Elaine Kunze wrote:

> Does anyone have suggestions for imaging hair?  We have someone who  
> wants to get a cross section.  Is there some fluorescent label?  I  
> am having difficulty with the density of the hair (light doesn't  
> penetrate very far).
> Elaine Kunze
> Cytometry Facility
> Huck Institute of the Life Sciences
> 319 Life Sciences Building
> Penn State University
> University Park, PA 16802
> http://www.huck.psu.edu/facilities/cytometry-up/
> 814-863-2762
>



Glen MacDonald
Core for Communication Research
Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center
Box 357923
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-7923  USA
(206) 616-4156
[log in to unmask]

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