title: Sudan black: a fast, easy and non-toxic method to assess myelin repair in demyelinating diseases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The search for novel drugs that enhance myelin repair in entities such as multiple sclerosis has top priority in neurological research, not least because remyelination can hinder further neurodegeneration in neuro-inflammatory conditions. Recently, several new compounds with the potential to boost remyelination have been identified using high-throughput in vitro screening methods. However, assessing their potential to enhance remyelination in vivo using plastic embedded semi-thin sections or electron microscopy, even though being the gold standard for assessing remyelination, is toxic, extremely time-consuming and expensive.
  
  
  METHODS
  We screened available myelin dyes for a staining candidate which offers a faster and easier alternative to visualize remyelination in cryo-sections.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified sudan black as a candidate with excellent myelin resolution and we show that our adapted sudan black staining can demonstrate myelin repair in rodent spinal cord cryosections as reliable as in semithin sections, but much faster, easier, less toxic and less expensive. Besides that, it can resolve the small myelinated axons in the corpus callosum. The staining can yet readily be combined with immunostainings which can be challenging in semithin sections. We validated the method in human spinal cord tissue as well as in experimental demyelination of the rat spinal cord by a lysolecithin time course experiment. As proof-of-principle, we demonstrate that sudan black is able to reliably detect the remyelination enhancing properties of benztropine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our adapted sudan black staining can be used to rapidly and non-toxically screen for remyelinating therapies in demyelinating diseases.
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich and Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Zurich, Switzerland.|Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Benjamin V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Ineichen
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich and Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Weinmann
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich and Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Good
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich and Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Patricia S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Plattner
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich and Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wicki
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropathology, University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Elisabeth J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Rushing
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Linnebank
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich and Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Martin E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Schwab
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001391:Azo Compounds; D003711:Demyelinating Diseases / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009281:Naphthalenes; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D000074586:Remyelination; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology*; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D001391:Azo Compounds; D009281:Naphthalenes; C016118:Sudan Black B
keywords: Myelin; benztropine; histopathology; lysolecithin; multiple sclerosis; remyelination