Bio 205 Lab Exercise 12 Preparation of bacterial smear

What is the purpose

To prepare bacterial sample for staining

Why do bacteria generate little contrast in the microscope field?

And what can you do to fix that

Because most bacteria have no color

In order to fix that you need to apply color to a bacterial smear by using a staining reagent

Why is bacteria placed on a slide and heat fixed

Bacteria can fall of the slide so in order to keep that from happing you need to heat fix it to make it stay on the slide it sort of works like a glue

Bacterial Smear

Is a thin layer of bacteria placed on a slide for staining. make sure it is not contaminated

The quick procedure

label a clean microscope slide. circle target with sharpie

Sterilize the loop

Remove a loopful of bacterial broth

Smear the broth on target area

Air dy

Heat fix