Acidophile (or acidophil, or, as an adjectival form, acidophilic) is a term used by histologists to describe a particular staining pattern of cells and tissues when using haematoxylin and eosin stains. Specifically, the name refers to structures which "love" acid, and take it up readily. More specifically, acidophilia can be described by cationic groups of most often proteins in the cell readily reacting with acidic stains.
It describes the microscopic appearance of cells and tissues, as seen through a microscope, after a histological section has been stained with an acidic dye. The most common such dye is eosin, which stains acidophilic substances red and is the source of the related term eosinophilic. Note that a single cell can have both acidophilic substances/organelles and basophilic substances/organelles, albeit some have historically had so much of one stain that the cell itself is called an eosinophil.
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Eosinophilic (Greek suffix -phil-, meaning loves eosin) is the staining of tissues, cells, or organelles after they have been washed with eosin, a dye. Eosin is an acidic dye for staining cell cytoplasm, collagen, and muscle fibers. Eosinophilic describes the appearance of cells and structures seen in histological sections that take up the staining dye eosin. Such eosinophilic structures are, in general, composed of protein. Eosin is usually combined with a stain called hematoxylin to produce a hematoxylin- and eosin-stained section (also called an H&E stain, HE or H+E section).
Acidophile (or acidophil, or, as an adjectival form, acidophilic) is a term used by histologists to describe a particular staining pattern of cells and tissues when using haematoxylin and eosin stains. Specifically, the name refers to structures which "love" acid, and take it up readily. More specifically, acidophilia can be described by cationic groups of most often proteins in the cell readily reacting with acidic stains. It describes the microscopic appearance of cells and tissues, as seen through a microscope, after a histological section has been stained with an acidic dye.