Traditionally studied via staining methods:

• Nissl stains. Mostly nucleus visible.
• Golgi impregnation techniques. Only about 1% of neurons impregnated. Makes most of the cell visible.
• Weigert stain for myelin.
• Reduced-silver method.
• Staining of degenerate elements.
• Retrogade staining. One can stain all neurons whose axons terminate on a given region, using materials taken at the dendrites and then transported to the cell body.
• Anterograde staining. Find the regions which the axons of neurons in a certain zone reach, using materials absorved by the body and transported to the axon terminals.
• Intreacellular dye injection. Shows more of the cell than Golgi impregnation techniques.
• Histochemical staining. Identify cells by particular chemicals they contain.
• Metabolic staining. Staining that depends on the Metabolism of the cells.