{"id":2676,"date":"2021-01-23T12:09:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-23T04:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/?p=2676"},"modified":"2021-01-28T12:16:13","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T04:16:13","slug":"bacterial-staining-techniques","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/bacterial-staining-techniques\/","title":{"rendered":"Bacterial Staining Techniques"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I was involved in training\na group of students from the Korea Bio Meister High School on bacterial staining\ntechniques and share my views on the various processes in identifying bacterial\ncells using the following techniques.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bacterial cells are\ndifficult to be viewed under the microscope unless they are stained. This is\ndue to their lack of colour and contrast. Scientists have been using several\ntypes of stains to make these cells visible. The staining procedure will help\nresearchers to identify the bacteria, as well as help healthcare providers to\ndiagnose infections caused by bacteria.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One basic type of staining\nprocedure that can be used is the Simple Stain, where we use just one type of\nstain, and the bacteria takes up the colour of the stain, when observed under\nthe microscope. We get to study the morphology, dimensions, cell size and\narrangement in this type of staining. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Negative staining method can\nalso be used in which the background of the bacteria takes up the stain, and\nthe specimen is untouched, thereby creating a contrast and making the bacterial\ncell visible. This method is very convenient and is useful to view the overall\nmorphology of the bacterial cell. This method is based on the principle of the\nrepulsion between the negatively charged stain used and the negatively charged\nbacterial cell wall.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, to get more\ninformation about the bacteria we need to perform a Differential Stain. In this\nprocedure we use more than one stain, and different bacterial cells will take\nup these stains as per their structural properties. It should be noted that the\nprimary stain and secondary stain will have different colours which will allow\nthe students to distinguish the different types of bacterial cells when they\nare viewed under the microscope.  Some\nexamples of this Differential staining methods are the Gram Staining, Capsule\nstaining and Endospore staining. The Gram staining is one of the most commonly\nused type of Differential stain. This method was developed by Dr Hans Christian\nGram in 1884. This type of staining helps us differentiate between a Gram\nPositive and Gram-Negative bacteria, as they both take up different coloured\nstains, which is due to their cell wall properties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Capsule staining also\ncomes under Differential stain. Many bacteria have capsules surrounding their\ncell, which makes them virulent, as these capsules help the bacteria evade the\nhost immune system by resisting phagocytosis. Since these capsules are\nnon-ionic, it\u2019s very difficult to stain them using acidic or basic stains.\nHence to observe them we stain the bacterial cell with a basic stain, and we\nstain the background and surroundings using an acidic stain. The capsule will\nnot take up any of these stains and will appear as a clear halo surrounding the\nbacterial cell, whereas the bacterial cell and the background will take up the\nrespective stains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another type of\nDifferential stain is the Endospore staining. Endospores are a dormant form of\nbacteria formed by some species of bacteria during unfavourable conditions. In the\ncase of the Endospore staining, we get to differentiate between the vegetative\ncells and endospores, as the spores and the vegetative cells take up differed\ncoloured stains. All these staining techniques will help us in bacterial identification and\ncharacterisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have to make sure that throughout the experiment the microscope lenses\nare kept clean. Though the staining procedures are quite simple, it requires a\nlot of practise by the students so that they are able to master these\ntechniques and to get an optimally stained bacterial slide which will help them\nin their bacterial identification studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benson, H. J. (2005). Benson’s Microbiological Applications:\nLaboratory manual in general microbiology. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher\nEducation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cappuccino, J. G., & Sherman, N.\n(2014). Microbiology: a\nlaboratory manual. Boston: Pearson Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goldman, E., & Green, L. H. (2009). Practical Handbook of Microbiology.\nBoca Raton: CRC Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was involved in training a group of students from the Korea Bio Meister High School on bacterial staining techniques and share my views on the various processes in identifying bacterial cells using the following techniques.   Bacterial cells are difficult to be viewed under the microscope unless they are stained. This is due to their lack of colour and contrast. Scientists have been using several types of stains to make these cells visible. The staining procedure will help researchers to identify the bacteria, as well as help healthcare providers to diagnose infections caused by bacteria.  One basic type of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":2677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/302"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2679,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676\/revisions\/2679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}