`NAME: _________________________________ RATING: ________________________

GROUP NO. ____________________________ DATE: ________________________

ACTIVITY NO.5

STAINING PROCEDURES

As they exist in nature, most bacteria are colorless, transparent, and difficult to see.
Therefore, various staining methods have been devised to enable scientists to examine
bacteria. In preparation for staining, the bacteria are smeared onto a glass microscope
slide (resulting in what is known as a “smear”), air-dried, and then “fixed”.

The two most common methods of fixation are heat fixation and methanol fixation. Heat
fixation is usually accomplished by passing the smear through a Bunsen burner flame. If
not performed properly, excess heat can distort the morphology of the cells. Methanol
fixation, which is accomplished by flooding the smear with absolute methanol for 30
seconds, is a more satisfactory fixation technique. In general, fixation serves three
purposes: 1. It kills the organisms. 2. It preserves their morphology (shape). 3. It
anchors the smear to the slide. Specific stains and staining techniques are used to
observe bacterial cell morphology (e.g., size, shape, morphologic arrangement,
composition of cell wall, capsules,
flagella, endospores).

OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the activity the student would be able to
1. learn the various staining methods to examine bacteria.

MATERIALS: Microbiology book and e-book

PROCEDURE: Answer the following research questions.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. Draw and label the simple bacterial staining technique.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
2. Define the different staining procedure.
a. Simple staining
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
b. Structural staining
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
c. Differential staining
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
3. Give the purposes of the following staining technique.
a. Staining with methylene blue
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
b. Capsule stains
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
c. Flagella stains
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
d. Endospore stains
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
e. Gram stain
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
f. Acid-fast stain
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

REFERENCES: