What is the Difference Between Metachromasia and Metachromatic

The key difference between metachromasia and metachromatic is that metachromasia refers to the characteristic color change during the staining carried out in biological tissues, whereas metachromatic refers to the dyes that can cause metachromasia.

Metachroamsia is the characteristic change in color of staining carried out in biological tissues. On the other hand, the term metachromatic dye refers to dyes that can cause metachromasia. Therefore, these are closely related terms.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Metachromasia
3. What is Metachromatic
4. Relationship Between Metachromasia and Metachromatic
5. Metachromasia vs Metachromatic in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Metachromasia vs Metachromatic

What is Metachromasia?

Metachroamsia is the characteristic change in color of staining carried out in biological tissues. This can be exhibited by certain dyes when these dyes are bound to particular substances that are present in these tissues, which are known as chromotropes. In other words, metachromasia refers to the color change in biological tissues that appear when certain dye molecules are bound to chromophores. For example, toluidine blue turns dark blue when it is bound to cartilage. This particular color change can range from blue to red depending on the content of glycosamine in the cartilage.

Two widely used metachromatic stains include hematological Giemsa and May-Grunwald stains consisting of thiazine dyes. When using these stains, the white cell nucleus turns to purple color, basophil granules turn into magenta color, and cytoplasm stains blue. If there is no color change, then we name it orthochromasia.

When considering the mechanism of action of metachromasia, it needs the presence of polyanions within the tissue. Upon staining of these tissues with basic dye solutions, e.g. toluidine blue, the bound dye molecules tend to form dimeric and polymeric aggregates. These aggregates give a light absorption spectrum that is different from the spectra given by the individual monomeric dye molecules.

What is Metachromatic?

The term metachromatic dye refers to dyes that can cause metachromasia. Thylene blue, toluidine blue, and safranine are some examples of metachromatic dyes. However, sometimes we use the term metachromatic to refer to the metachromatic properties of different dyes. For example, metachromatic properties of dimethylmethylene blue, which is a thiazine dye that is closely related to the toluidine blue dye.

Sometimes, we can define the term metachromatic as characterized by staining in a different color or shade or as “having the capacity to stain different elements of a cell or tissue in different colors or shades using dyes.”

What is the Relationship Between Metachromasia and Metachromatic?

• Both metachromasia and metachromatic refer to the phenomena of color change in dyes and staining.
• Therefore, they are two closely related terms.

What is the Difference Between Metachromasia and Metachromatic?

The key difference between metachromasia and metachromatic is that metachromasia refers to the characteristic color change during the staining carried out in biological tissues, whereas the term metachromatic refers to the dyes that can cause metachromasia.

The following table summarizes the difference between metachromasia and metachromatic.

Summary – Metachromasia vs Metachromatic

Metachromasia and Metachromatic are two closely related terms. There is only a slight difference between them. The key difference between metachromasia and metachromatic is that metachromasia refers to the characteristic color change during the staining carried out in biological tissues, whereas the term metachromatic refers to the dyes that can cause metachromasia.

Reference:

1. “Metachromasia.” An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.
2. Ribatti, Domenico. “The Staining of Mast Cells: A Historical Overview.” International Archives of Allergy and Immunology, Karger Publishers, 29 Mar. 2018.
3. “Cellular Metachromasia (Concept ID: C4025583) – MedGen – NCBI.” National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Cartilagine ialina metacromasia” By VuPi – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia