Stains-all is a cyanine dye, also called DBTC.
(Its full chemical name is ridiculously long.)
It can impart different colours to different
types of macromolecular anions, and is most
often used for staining phosphoproteins on
electrophoresis gels. It is seldom used for
staining sections because the colours fade very
rapidly (a few days in my own experience).
Light accelerates the fading.

The most thorough description of the technique
that I know is Hasty, Smith & Kang 1983.
Histochemical identification of sulfation position
in chondroitin sulfate in various cartilages.
J Histochem Cytochem 31: 1367-1374. The staining
solution is quite complex, and you will need to
read the paper carefully before trying the
method. 

You did not state a reason for staining
plant tissues with DBTC; possibly a method
intended for sulphated proteoglycans in cartilage
will not provide the information you are after.
Having tried the dye on animal tissues I can
assure you that it's no good as a general
purpose stain for histology. It is appropriate
only for certain specialized applications in
which results are recorded at once, before the 
colours fade.
-- 
-------------------------
John A. Kiernan
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
The University of Western Ontario
London,   Canada   N6A 5C1
   kiernan@uwo.ca
   http://publish.uwo.ca/~jkiernan/
_______________________________________
renata pechova wrote:
> 
> Dear histoneters.
> I am a PGS student. I am interested in anatomy  and physiology of plants.
> I am dealing with a problem of staining plant tissu with dye called
> "Stains-all" (provided by polysciences). I would like to use LRW sections.
> Does anybody have a protocol how to use this dye? All I know about the
> staining protocol is, that the dye should be dissolved in ethanol (i do not
> know the concetration).
>   Than you.
>    Renata Pechova
>    renatapechova@hotmail.com

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