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GRAM STAIN
INTRODUCTION :
1. DIRECT SMEAR:
A direct smear is a preparation of the primary
clinical sample received in the laboratory for
processing.
A direct smear provides a mechanism to identify
the number and type of cells present in a specimen,
including white blood cells, epithelial cells, and
predominant organism type
2. Culture smear:
preparation from solid or semisolid
media or broth.
• Heat fixation
• Gram staining from bacterial culture gives an idea to put required biochemical tests for
further identification of bacteria.
• For fastidious organisms, such as Haemophilus which takes time to grow in culture,
gram staining helps in early presumptive identification based on their morphology
(pleomorphic gram negative bacilli)
• Its useful for stain certain fungi such as candida & Cryptococcus.
• Gram staining helps in screening the quality of the specimen (Sputum) before
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GRAM-POSITIVE
AND GRAM-NEGATIVE CELL WALL
CHARACTERS GRAM-POSITIVE CELL GRAM-NEGATIVE CELL
WALL WALL
Peptidoglycan layer Thicker (15-80nm) Thinner (2nm)
Lipid content Nil or Scanty (2-5%) Present (15%-20%)
Lipopolysaccharide Absent Present
Teichoic acid Present Absent
Aromatic amino acids Absent Present
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