Basophilic
Basophilic is a technical term used by histologists. It describes the microscopic appearance of cells and tissues, as seen down the microscope, after a histological section has been stained with a basic dye. The most common such dye is haematoxylin.
Basophilic describes the appearance of structures seen in histological sections which take up basic dyes. The structures usually stained are those that contain negative charges, such as the phosphate backbone of DNA in the cell nucleus and ribosomes.
"Basophils" are cells that "love" the blue, and usually show up deep blue under standard staining techniques. Specifically, this term refers to:
Simplistically, acid pH stains are attracted to the base pH tissue, so they are called "acidophilic stains". Eosinophils are dyed red by the acid stain, eosin. "Basophils" are dyed blue by the basic stain, hematoxylin.
