A New Approach for Light Microscopy Studies of Stomatal Complex using Sodium Hydroxide Staining
Abstract
This study aimed to develop a method for staining paradermic histological preparations for analyses
of the stomatal complexes in plants. Sodium hydroxide is used in order to depolymerize polyphenols and to
stain the stomatal complex, being effective in species from families that are rich in polyphenols. The proposed
method performed better than the iron chloride method in 13 out of 20 plant species tested. The spectral
values and the microscopic images suggest that this method is useful, fast and low-cost for histological studies
of stomatal complexes in polyphenol-rich plant species.
