Lab Practical Review Flashcards
Spore forming pathogens are most likely Gram + or Gram -? Rods or Cocci?
Gram + Rods
Gram Stain Steps
Drop of distilled water on slide first
Than mix in bacteria
Allow to air dry
Heat fix over burner (3-4 passes over flame)
Once completely dry begin the staining portion
Crystal Violet - 30 seconds
RINSE
Gram’s Iodine (Mordant) - 30 seconds
RINSE
Decolorizing Alcohol - 10 drops/until its clear
RINSE
Safranin Counterstain - 30 seconds
RINSE
Use Bibulous paper to dry
- In the Gram stain, a bacterial smear is dried and then heat-fixed to cause it to adhere to the glass slide. It is then stained with crystal violet dye, the primary stain, which is rinsed off and replaced with Gram’s iodine. The iodine acts as a mordant - that is, it binds the dye to the cell. The smear is then decolorized with alcohol and counterstained with safranin. Gram (+) organisms take on the crystal violet stain which gets locked in by the Gram’s iodine. They are dark blue/purple in color and are dense. Gram (-) organisms with their fatty cell walls do not take on the first two steps of the Gram stain, but the decolorizing alcohol allows the counterstain to absorb. They are red and more translucent.*
What color does a Gram + pathogen stain in a gram stain?
- Blue.
- Gram (+) organisms take on the crystal violet stain which gets locked in by the Gram’s iodine.
- They are dark blue/purple in color and are dense.
What color does a Gram - pathogen stain a gram stain?
- Red.
- Gram (-) organisms with their fatty cell walls do not take on the first two steps of the Gram stain, but the decolorizing alcohol allows the counterstain to absorb.
- They are red and more translucent.
What does a Gram Stain tell us?
- Bacterial Shape & Arrangement
- If the bacteria is Gram (+) or Gram (-)
- Gram (+) cell walls contain peptidoglycan which is easy to stain and hard to decolorize. - Gram (-) cell walls are made up of phospholipids which are difficult to stain, but easy to decolorize
Do you heat fix a Gram Stain Slide?
YES
What does a Negative Stain tell us?
Morphology only. The shape & arrangement of the microbe
Do you heat fix a Negative Stain?
NO
What type of stain is this?
Gram Stain
What type of stain is this?
Negative Stain
What does an Endospore Stain tell us?
Determines whether the microbe is a spore forming bacteria or not
What is the most common spore forming bacteria?
Gram + Rods
Explain the Negative Stain steps
Procedure:
1. Flame and cool your loop and place a loopful of India ink in the center of a clean microscope slide
2. Flame and cool your loop and mix a small amount of bacteria into the stain
3. Mix and spread the bacteria out
4. Let AIR DRY - Do NOT heat fix as this will distort the shape
5. examine under oil immersion
Explain the Endospore Stain steps
- Add water to a beaker and bring to a boil
2 Prepare a smear on a clean slide and heat fix - Place your slide on the beaker. Place a piece of paper towel over smear - this will help prevent the dye from running off the slide
- Place drops of Malachite green dye on the paper towel and steam for 5 minutes. Continue to add stain to prevent the dye from drying on the slide
- Decolorize with water for about 30 seconds. The vegetative cells lose the dye, but the endospores retain the dye
- Counterstain with safranin for 30 seconds. Rinse with water. Blot dry with bibulous paper
- Observe under oil immersion. The endospores appear green and the vegetative cells appear pink
When a bacteria is grown on separate agar plates at different temperatures (degree celsius) what does that tell us?
This experiment shows us that different bacteria have different temperatures in which they prefer to grow.
What can we observe from these plates?
From left To right:
10 C
20 C
30 C
40 C
50 C
1. E. coli
2. Pseudomonas fluorescens
3. Bacillus stearothermophilus
Define: Obligate Aerobe
Grows only in the presence of oxygen
Define: Obligate Anaerobe
Will not grow in the presence of oxygen.
What type of stain & bacteria shape is seen?
Negative Stain - cocci
What type of stain & bacteria shape is seen?
Negative Stain - rods
Special Notes to consider to Improve Your Gram Stain?
- Gram (+) organisms can lose their ability to retain the crystal violet complex as they age. This can cause the smear to appear Gram variable - with both colors present. It is interesting to note that Gram (+) organisms can appear Gram (-), but Gram (-) organisms never appear Gram (+).
- Gram (-) cocci are really, really, really, really, really, really, really rare.
- The most important step to the Gram stain is the decolorizing alcohol. You can decolorize too much and cause a Gram (+) organism to appear Gram (-).
- Thick smears do not stain well. Spread your smears out and look towards the thinner edges.
What type of stain & bacteria shape is seen?
Gram Stain. Gram (+) rods
What type of stain & bacteria shape is seen?
Gram Stain. Gram (+) cocci
What type of stain & bacteria shape is seen?
Gram Stain. Gram (-) rods
DEFINE: Endospore
Highly resistant metabolically inactive cell types
DEFINE: Germination
Endospores reacting to favorable conditions and becoming metabolically active
DEFINE: Vegetative cell
Metabolically active form of bacteria
DEFINE: Capsule
Gelatinous protective coating formed by SOME bacteria -difficult to stain
DEFINE: Capsule
a protective gelatinous coating produced by some bacteria. Capsules are difficult to stain, and may not show up on a Gram stain
Explain the Capsule Stain steps
- Make a suspension of the organism in a drop of water on a clean slide
- Put a drop of India ink next to the drop
- Carefully lower a coverslip over the two drops so that they mix together. There should be a gradient in the concentration of the ink
- Examine the slide under oil immersion and find a field where you can see the cells surrounded by a halo in a black background (it looks like static on a television)
- Dispose of the slide in the sharps container
Endospore stain
- Prepare a smear on a clean slide and heat fix 2. Add water to a beaker and bring to a boil
- Place your slide on the beaker. Place a piece of paper towel over smear - this will help prevent the dye from running off the slide
- Place drops of Malachite green dye on the paper towel and steam for 5 minutes. Continue to add stain to prevent the dye from drying on the slide
- Decolorize with water for about 30 seconds. The vegetative cells lose the dye, but the endospores retain the dye
- Counterstain with safranin for 30 seconds. Rinse with water. Blot dry with bibulous paper
- Observe under oil immersion. The endospores appear green and the vegetative cells appear pink
- Record results
- Perform a Gram stain and compare to the endospore stain. Note that in a Gram stain, endospores do not stain and the cells appear to have holes in them
What type of stain & bacteria shape is seen?
Gram stain of a spore forming Gram (+) rod
What type of stain & bacteria shape is seen?
Gram stain of a spore forming Gram (+) rodSpore
What type of stain & bacteria shape is seen?
Endospore stain of Vegetative cells
E. coli dislikes what temps?
Cold & Hot temps
What is the point of Aseptic Technique?
The two goals of aseptic technique are to prevent contamination of your culture with organisms from the environment and to prevent the culture from contaminating you or others.
Streak Plate technique is also referred to as?
Streak to Isolate
Explain Streak Plate Steps
- Label the agar plate on the bottom with your initials and date.
- Divide the plate into three sections with a T as diagrammed.
- Flame and cool your loop
- Gently roll the culture between your hands to mix. Flame the mouth of the tube. Aseptically remove a loopful of the culture, flame the mouth of the tube, recap the tube and place back in the holder. You will only use the bacteria culture once!
- Holding your loop as you would a pencil, spread the bacteria on section 1 of the plate by streaking back and forth. The more streaks, the better chance of isolated colonies. As you work, partially cover the petri dish with the cover to minimize environmental contamination. Use a gliding motion and avoid gouging your agar.
- This is the important part! Do NOT get more bacteria! Flame and cool your loop!
- Streak section 2 by starting in section 1 and pull into section 2. Do this 3-4 times and spread into section 2.
- Flame and cool your loop!
- Streak section 3 by starting in section 2 and pull into section 3. Do this 3-4 times and spread into section 3.
- Flame and cool your loop.
- Incubate the plates upside down in the colored holder found at your table. Incubate at room temperature, 25°C.
The purpose of streak plates are?
- Streak to Isolate.
Purpose is to take a mixture of bacteria and dilute it enough so that each individual colony will contain only one type of bacteria.
Most samples taken in a vet clinic will be a mixture, so the streak plate is an essential skill.
This technique is used to obtain a pure culture.
What materials do you need for a steak plate?
- Trypticase soy agar plate (TSA Plate)
- Broth culture containing a mixture of two organisms
- Loop & buns burner
Define: Compound microscope
A microscope with more than one lens system
Define: Condenser
A structure located below the microscope stage that contains a lens for focusing light on the specimen as well as an iris diaphragm
Define: Immersion oil
Oil placed on a slide to minimize refraction of the light entering the lens
Define: Iris diaphragm
An adjustable opening that regulates the amount of light illuminating the specimen
Define: Magnification
The microscope’s ability to optically increase the specimen size
Define: Refraction
The bending of light as it passes from one medium to another
Define: Resolution
The smallest separation that two structural forms must have in order to be distinguished optically as separate
What magnification are most organisms viewed under the microscope?
most organisms require the use of the oil immersion lens (100X) + Oculars which are 10x so total of 1000x magnification
Why do we use immersion oil?
Immersion oil prevents light refraction and allows for better magnification and resolution.
E. coli oxygen preference is classified as?
Facultative Anaerobe
What does this test show us?
Tubes Labeled:
1. Micrococcus luteus
2. Clostridium sporogenes
3. E. Coli
This is an oxygen slant test showing us that only the obligate aerobe (M. luteus) and facultative anaerobe (E. coli) could grow on the slants because of the oxygen present in the room
What are the oxygen results?
Obligate Aerobe