Staining fungal structures with artificial dyes used in the industry of juices

ABSTRACT: The objective of this research was to evaluate the efficiency of artificial dyes, sunset yellow and red bordeaux S, and the use of glycerol in different concentrations to consistently stain fungal structures in slides containing spores of Oidium sp., Albugo ipomoeae-panduratae, Pochonia chlamydosporia and hyphae of Phytopythium helicoides. Commercial product mixtures of the artificial dyes at 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 3.0 and 5.0% (w/v) added with glycerol at 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0% were evaluated. To stain chlamydospores, the suspension was placed in the staining solution or heated at 80ºC for 5 minutes. The slides were prepared by the wet mount slide method. Fungal spores were consistently stained starting at a concentration of 2% of the staining solution. The addition of glycerol to the staining solution improved the contrast of the sporangia, hyphae and chlamydospores. Higher intensity and uniformity of chlamydospore’s staining was verified using 3% dye solution and 1% heated glycerol, when compared to the unheated and blue-cotton solution