High potential biological stains from the traditional dyes of Manipur, India

Cytogenetics depends to a large extent on the biological stains and advancement of the microscopic devices. Most important and oldest biological stain is carmine, an animal extract. The application of natural dyes for staining of various biological tissues from an alternative source will decrease the expense for purchasing the synthetic dye and reduce their effects on human and environment. The plant derivative dyes were screened for biological staining in the present study. Two of the most popular traditional vegetative dyes in Manipur are extracted from Bixa orellana (local name Ureirom, UR) and Strobilanthes cusia (local name KUM, KU). The water extracts of two the plants were taken to study for the stainability of nuclear on root tip cells of Allium ascalonicum L. to test the feasibility of the dyes as the biological stains. The different stages of mitosis cell division in A. ascalonicum were stained with the dyes of KU and UR and compared with the standard stain acetocarmine. The UR stain is nonspecific as it stains whole cytoplasm as well as the nuclear parts. The KU stained the nuclear parts more precisely than UR and was as good as acetocarmine. The nuclear stainability of KU or UR is significant in the sense that these are natural products with no allergic response as that of carmine and it is time tested (particularly in Manipur). Hence, KU and UR are promising candidates for cytological/biological application in future that will be cost effective and environmental friendly. In future these two could be used as food colourant for human consumption.