Sarnat H B
Rev Neurol (Paris). 1985;141(2):120-7.
Acridine orange renders nucleic acids fluorescent when forming complexes with them: D.N.A. is coloured luminous yellow while R.N.A. is a brilliant orange. Its application to sections of muscle biopsies permits the identification of certain muscle fibres, recognized by their bright orange fluorescence which contrasts with the pale green of mature, normal myofibrils in three specific situations: denervation, regeneration following injury, and the rapid growth and maturation of fetal muscle. Moreover, myopathic nonregenerative atrophy, as well as histochemical type-specific atrophies, do not exhibit this same orange fluorescence. Because neurons, particularly motor neurons, contain large amounts of R.N.A. (by contrast with glial cells which have very little) the application of acridine orange in the central nervous system might help in understanding the development of the fetal brain, the evolution of some neurologic diseases, and the maturation of brain tumors. Since the technique does not require the exclusive use of frozen tissues, but also may be applied to formalin-fixed tissue in paraffin sections, it is well adapted to the study of tissue obtained at autopsy.
DNA呈亮黄色，而RNA呈亮橙色。将其应用于肌肉活检切片可识别某些肌纤维，在三种特定情况下，这些肌纤维通过亮橙色荧光得以辨认，与成熟正常肌原纤维的淡绿色形成对比，这三种情况分别是：去神经支配、损伤后的再生以及胎儿肌肉的快速生长和成熟。此外，肌病性非再生性萎缩以及组织化学类型特异性萎缩均未表现出这种橙色荧光。由于神经元，尤其是运动神经元，含有大量RNA（相比之下，神经胶质细胞含有的RNA很少），因此在中枢神经系统中应用吖啶橙可能有助于了解胎儿大脑的发育、某些神经系统疾病的演变以及脑肿瘤的成熟情况。由于该技术不仅可用于冷冻组织，也可应用于石蜡切片中的福尔马林固定组织，因此非常适合用于研究尸检获得的组织。
