A new approach to the staining of lipids with Sudan Black B: a study by means of polyacrylamide model films containing liposomes

Abstract

Sudan Black B (SBB) staining of lipids has been studied using model films of polyacrylamide gel containing liposomes prepared from crude lecithine. In these experiments, pure dimethyl sulphoxide was used as solvent for the dye. Sudan Black B dissolved in dimethyl sulphoxide, up to a concentration of nearly 50% (w/v) retaining the molar ratio of the two main components SBB I and SBB II constant over the entire concentration range. The differentiation of model films stained with 2% SBB was carried out in 65% dimethyl sulphoxide. As it proved impossible to find differentiation conditions in which the liposomes remained stained with a completely de-stained background, a mathematical analysis of the differentiation kinetics in the model system was made. This yielded a reliable method for obtaining quantitative date about Sudan Black B staining of liposome-lipids.