Trypan Blue

About Trypan Blue

Trypan blue is a diazo dye used in ophthalmic cataract surgery to stain the anterior capsule in the presence of a mature cataract, to aid in visualization, before creating the continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis. Trypan Blue is an acid azo dye commonly used as a stain to distinguish viable from non-viable cells. It turns dead cells blue and viable cells unstained. It is a known animal carcinogen and an experimental teratogen. A dye obtained from tolidine that is absorbed by the macrophages of the reticuloendothelial system and is therefore used for staining cells in biological research. Trypan blue is an antiprotozoal drug first used to treat Babesia infection in 1909 and still commonly used to treat Babesia canis. The complex chemical structure has been progressively simplified, yielding such other widely used drugs as imidocarb.

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