to apply two or more stains in sequence to (a specimen to be examined), each of which colours a different tissue
2. (tr; usually passive)
to apply (one of a series of stains) to a specimen to be examined
haematoxylin is counterstained with eosin
counterstain in American English
((n.) ˈkauntərˌstein, (v.) ˌkauntərˈstein)
Histology
noun
1.
a second stain of a different color applied to a microscopic specimen and used to color and contrast those parts not retaining the first stain
transitive verb
2.
to treat (a microscopic specimen) with a counterstain
intransitive verb
3.
to become counterstained; take a counterstain
Word origin
[1890–95; counter- + stain]This word is first recorded in the period 1890–95. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: blip, bootstrap, honky-tonk, phoneme, takedowncounter- is a combining form with the meanings “against,” “contrary,” “opposite,” “in oppositionor response to” (countermand); “complementary,” “in reciprocation,” “corresponding,” “parallel” (counterfoil; counterbalance); “substitute,” “duplicate” (counterfeit)
Examples of 'counterstain' in a sentence
counterstain
However, the colors of chromogen and counterstain used for histological samples are not always optimally distinguishable, even under optimal conditions.
Jakob Nikolas Kather, Cleo-Aron Weis, Alexander Marx, Alexander K Schuster, LotharR Schad, Frank Gerrit Zöllner 2015, 'New Colors for Histology: Optimized Bivariate Color Maps Increase Perceptual Contrastin Histological Images.', PLoS ONEhttp://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4696851?pdf=render. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)