Protocol Online logo  what is the measurement of Oil red O
staining - (Apr/06/2010 )  I'm doing oil red O staining of
macrophages,but what is the measurement of ORO staining? The
number of cells stained by ORO? The fluorescense intensity of
ORO? Or comparing the red area in cells?    It all depends on
what you are looking at... sections of tissue? plated cells?
Oil red O stains lipid droplets. What you measure, As Bob1 said,
depends on tissues vs. cells. Assuming cells, you are probably
best off taking a direct measure of ORO bound. To do this you
need to make sure you wash all of the un-bound stain
(background) from the cells. You can then elute the ORO in
isoproanol, and quantify in a spectrophotometer; peak absorbance
is 518nm, though we use a 492nm filter. For comparison between
replicate experiments, you can formulate a standard curve of ORO
diluted in Isopropyl alcohol.   Thank you, bob1 and Jah.  I am
going to compare the degree of foam cell formation between 2
groups of mouse peritoneal macrophages.