Melanosis coli--histochemical and immunohistochemical comparison of the pigments of melanosis coli and Dubin-Johnson syndrome.

We compared the pigment of melanosis coli with the pigment of Dubin-Johnson syndrome, melanin, and lipofuscin. The pigment of melanosis coli appeared similar to lipofuscin in that it stained positively with periodic acid-Schiff, oil red-0 and Victoria blue stains and revealed negative reactions to the immunohistochemical stains for S-100 protein and neuron specific enolase, but had similarity to melanin as shown by the positive reaction to Fontana-Masson stain and negative autofluorescence. The pigment of Dubin-Johnson syndrome showed the same histochemical and immunohistochemical characteristics as that of melanosis coli. The results indicate that the pigments of melanosis coli and Dubin-Johnson syndrome are identical and are variants of lipofuscin.