India Ink Marking Dye from American MasterTech

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India Ink, also known as Indian Ink, is a black dye that was once widely used as a printing ink and can be used in drawing. India Ink can be traced as far back as the 4th century B.C. China.

For the field of pathology, India Ink from American MasterTech is a very popular marking dye. In the pathology lab, India Ink is routinely used on surgically removed tissue specimens to maintain orientation and indicate tumor resection margins. The painted tissue is sprayed with acetic acid, which acts as a mordant, "fixing" the India Ink so it doesn't track. India Ink is primarily used because it is able to survive tissue processing, during which the inked tissue samples are bathed in alcohol and xylene and then embedded in paraffin wax before being mounted onto glass microscope slides. Under the microscope, the India Ink at the edge of the tissue shows the pathologist where the surgical resection margin is. An important indicator that is used to select treatment types is the distance between the tumor and the edge of the specimen, which are highly visible thanks to India Ink.

MaserTech India Ink is also used in the field of microbiology where it is used as a negative stain, which is staining a slide containing bacteria black in order to see if a cell contains a gelatinous capsule.

American MasterTech has been supplying Histology and Pathology laboratories with supplies for over 30 years and offers India Ink and a wide variety of other Tissue Marking Dyes