Methylene Blue

Methylene blue , whose scientific name is methylthionine chloride, is an organic dye used to treat a disease called methemoglobinemia.

It is an aromatic heterocyclic chemical compound with molecular formula: C ₁₆ H ₁₈ ClN ₃ S.

Medicine

Methylene blue is used as a hair dye.

certain parts of the body before or during surgery. Its use is mainly as a topical antiseptic and internal healing agent. It is also used as a dye in stains for observation under a microscope, and to stain results in laboratories.

The pharmaceutical company TauRx Therapeutics has found that the use of methylene blue delays the deterioration of cognitive functions in Alzheimer's patients. However, the formulation used in clinical trials is not the one used to stain cells and therefore should not be used.

Although the mechanism is the inhibition of Tau aggregation, it seems to improve mitochondrial function. For this reason, it has been proposed that it could also be used in the fight against Parkinson's disease.

Aquaculture

It is used in tropical fish aquaculture to treat fungal infections. It may also be effective in treating fish infected with the protozoan ich parasite Ichthyophthirius multifiliis . It is primarily used to protect newly laid fish eggs from infection by fungi or bacteria. This is useful if one wishes to artificially incubate fish eggs. Methylene blue is very effective when used as a "medical fish bath" for the treatment of ammonia, nitrite and cyanide poisoning, as well as for topical and internal treatment of injured or sick fish as a "first response".

Properties

This substance is in the form of crystals or crystalline powder and has a dark green color with a bronze sheen. It is odorless and stable in air. Its solutions in water or alcohol are deep blue. It is easily soluble in water and chloroform; it is also moderately soluble in alcohol.

It is also used against nail fungus; another use is to dye white clothes when they turn yellow. In countries of the former Soviet Union, it is used to disinfect wounds and also relieve the itching of mosquito bites.