Crystal Violet Stain Solution

Crystal Violet is a triphenylmethane based alkaline dye. Crystal violet staining solution is commonly used for Gram staining to distinguish Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. Its detection principle is that crystal violet can bind to peptidoglycan in bacterial cell walls to form colored complexes. Gram positive bacteria appear purple due to their thick cell walls and high peptidoglycan content, making it difficult for the crystal violet iodine complex to be eluted by ethanol; Gram negative bacteria have thin cell walls and few peptidoglycans, and their crystal violet is easily washed away by ethanol, which then turns red after re staining, thus achieving differentiation and identification of different bacterial types. Crystal violet can also bind with nucleic acids and acidic substances inside cells to form purple complexes. By staining cells to observe the number of cell clones, cell proliferation or migration activity can be detected in cytological experiments.