Underdifferentiated cytoplasm in the VVG technique yields which color range?

• A. Grey to black
• B. Blue
• C. Green
• D. Orange

Answer: (A)

In the Verhoeff–Van Gieson stain, different tissue components take distinct colors because of how the stain differentiates structures: nuclei and elastic fibers appear dark (blue-black to black) from the Verhoeff hematoxylin, while collagen, and cytoplasm with the counterstains separate as red and yellow respectively. When cytoplasm is under-differentiated, the differentiation step fails to clearly separate the cytoplasm from the dark nuclear stain, so the cytoplasmic areas don’t take the expected yellow counterstain and instead remain dark. This produces a gray to black appearance of the cytoplasm, making it difficult to distinguish from nuclei or other dark elements.