Midterm Exam Labs I-VII Flashcards
brightfield microscope
-allows light rays to pass directly to the eye without being deflected by intervening opaque plate
stage
-horizontal platform that supports the microscope slide
stage adjustment
-clamping device used for holding and moving slide around on stage
neutral density filter
-needed to reduce intensity of light
ocular
- eyepiece
- 2 or more internal lenses and has mag of 10X
total magnification for compound microscope
-determined by multiplying power of ocular by the power of objective lens used
condenser
- located under stage
- collects and directs light from the lamp to slide being studied
- doesn’t affect magnification power
diaphragm
- within the condenser
- regulates amount of light that reaches slide
limit of magnification for most light microscopes
- 1000X
- set by intrinsic property of lenses=resolving power
resolving power
- ability to completely separate two objects in a microscopic field
- d=.5(lambda)/NA–>numerical apeture
numerical apeture
- describes how condenser lens concentrates and focuses light rays from light source
- maximized when light rays focused into a cone of light that then passes through specimen and onto objective lens
maximizing resolving power
- blue filter: shorter wavelength of resulting light provides max resolution
- keep condenser at highest position that allows max amount of light to enter objective lens and limit amount of light lost due to refraction
- diaphragm shouldn’t be stopped down too much
- immersion oil should be used for 100X lens because it forms a continuous lense system that limits loss of light due to refraction
parafocal and paracentral
- good quality microscopes are this
- which means image will remain both centered and in focus when changing from low power to high power objective lens
the resolving power of a microscope is a function of
-the magnifying power of the lenses and the wavelength of light
the coarse and fine focus knobs adjust the distance between
-the stage and the objective lens
a microscope that maintains focus when the objective magnification is increased is called
-parfocal
the most useful adjustment for increasing image contrast in low power magnification is
-closing down the diaphragm
before the oil immersion lens is rotated into place you should
-center the object of interest in the preceding lens and place a drop of oil on the slide
how do bacterial cells grow on a solid medium?
-as visible, discrete colonies
colony
- visible mass of cells usually resulting from the division of single cell
- can arise from more than once cell
advantage of agar media
- easily manipulated and not degraded by pathogenic bacteria
- solidifying agent
- could be added to rich broths to form a solid medium on which isolated colonies could develop after inoculation
- we usually use TSA (trypticase soy agar)
in what ways do the macroscopic features of bacterial colonies differ from those of molds?
-bacteria is smaller and round while molds are uneven in shape
why is the level of contamination measured as number of colonies rather than size of colonies?
-numbers show how many organisms were on a plate instead of how much grew from organisms on a plate
bacteria vs. eukaryotic microorganisms
-bacteria are smaller, have DNA not enclosed in nucleus, 70S ribosomes, have a cell wall composed of peptidoglycan, they lack mitochondria and chloroplasts but can still carry out respiration and photosynthesis and may have flagella that are simpler than those of eukaryotic cells but may also be more numerous
staining
- increases contrast between cell and surrounding medium, allowing observer to see more cellular detail, including some inclusions and various organelles
- usually results in cell death
- can also lead to undesirable artifacts
working distance
- distance between objective lens and slide
- decreases with increasing magnification
field of view
- area viewed through ocular
- decreases with increasing magnification
- center specimen before increasing magnification
best magnification for bacteria
-100X
best magnification for fungi
-10X or 40X
phase-contrast microscope
- able to differentiate transparent protoplasmic structures and enhance the contrast between a cell and its surroundings without staining
- used to view living cells and activities like motility
phase shift
- what happens when light in a microscope passes through a transparent object and is slowed down by 1/4 wavelength
- for a cell the phase shift without a reduction in amplitude results in the cell having a different refractive index than its surroundings
two types of light rays
-light rays passing through a transparent object emerge as either direct or diffracted rays
direct rays
- rays that pass through unaffected by medium
- unaltered in amplitude and phase
diffracted rays
- bent because they are retarded by the medium
- retarded 1/4 wavelength
coincidence
- direct and diffracted light waves brought into exact phase with each other, result is coincidence with the resultant amplitude of the converged waves being the sum of the two waves and
- increase in amplitude will result in increased brightness of the object in the field
interference
-two light waves of equal amplitude are in reverse phase (1/2 wavelength off), amplitudes will cancel out to produce a dark object
how do typical modern phase-contrast microscopes differ from conventional brightfield microscope?
- has a different type of diaphragm
- has a phase plate
diaphragm of phase-contrast microscope
-has annular stop that allows only a hollow cone of light rays to pass through the condenser to the specimen on the slide
how do you make a microscope function efficiently in both phase-contrast and brightfield situations?
- line up annular ring and phase rings so they are perfectly concentric
- adjust light source so maximum illumination is achieved for both phase-contrast and brightfield usage
- be able to shift back and forth easily between the two
light source adjustment for phase-contrast and brightfield microscopes
- blue light provides better images for both so make certain a blue filter is placed in filter holder or over the light source on the base
- more light required for phase-contrast than brightfield since so much light is blocked by annular stop
- evenness can be adjusted by removing lamp housing from microscope and focusing light spot on a piece of white paper
guidelines to be adhered to in all phase-contrast studies
- use only optically perfect slides and cover glasses
- be sure slides and cover glasses are clean
- use wet mount slides instead of hanging drop
- limit observations to living cells
bright phase microscopy
-making a bright image on a dark background that results from light rays in exact phase
dark phase microscopy
-making a dark image on a bright background that results from light rays in reverse phase
which two items can be used to check the alignment of the annulus and phase ring?
-centering telescope or optovar
why do we use aseptic technique?
- so we don’t introduce contaminating organisms
- insures organisms being handled don’t contaminate handler
- not contamination remains after working with the cultures
general aseptic procedure
- work area disinfected
- sterilization of loops or needles needed for inoculation
- inoculate media
- flame loop or needle again
- disinfect work area again
transfer from broth to broth
- heat loop
- shake tube to disperse organisms
- remove loopful of organisms
- cap removed from sterile broth and inoculated loop is inserted into sterile broth
- loop flamed
transfer from slant to slant
- heat loop
- pick up some culture
- smear culture in zig zag up sterile slant
- heat loop
transfer from agar to slant
- heat loop
- pick up organism of interest from plate
- transfer to slant in zig zag pattern
- heat loop
loops and needles
- loops used when streaking agar plates and slants
- needles used in stab cultures
pure cultures
- bacteria exist in natural environments in mixed populations so it is necessary to devise a way to isolate individual populations to obtain a pure culture
- consists of only one single kind of organism
- can study cultural, morphological, and physiological characteristics of an individual organism
streak plate
- involves diluting bacterial cells in a sample to an end point where a single cell divides giving rise to a pure colony
- used most often to obtain pure cultures
- take loopful and make dot
- make 6-7 lines radiating from that dot
- flame loop
- cool in center
- make 6-7 new lines in a new quadrant from end of last lines
- flame loop
- do this till you have four quadrants
- if colony arises not on streak lines there has been a contamination
pour plate
- involves diluting bacterial cells in a sample to an end point where a single cell divides giving rise to a pure colony
- inoculate bottom of plate with culture of interest
- pour agar over top
- swirl in small figure 8’s to mix
- multiple plates have been diluted to better obtain isolated colonies
subculturing technique
- want to take isolated colony and transfer it to a slant or broth to make a stock culture
- flame loop
- take small bit of isolated colony and only isolated colony
- inoculate slant or broth
- flame loop
what colony characteristics can be used for differentiation of bacterial species?
- color and shape
- i.e. serratia is gram negative rod while micrococcus luteus is gram positive coccus
why is dilution necessary for pure culture preparation?
-gives you isolated colonies
what advantage does streak plate method have over pour-plate method?
-streak plate is more economical in materials and time
what advantage does the pour-plate method have over streak plate method?
-requires less skill
before inoculating and pouring molten nutrient agar into a plate, why must the agar first be cooled to 50 degrees C?
-in order to avoid condensation and moisture
in which shapes of bacteria does motility occur?
-rods and spirochetes and almost never in cocci
flagella
- major organelles of motility in bacteria
- allow cells to move towards nutrients in environment or move away from harmful substances
- too small to be seen under light microscope
chemotaxis
-the complicated process that allows the flagellum to move
structure of flagella
- rigid filament that occurs in form of helix that constitutes main body
- filament connected to a hook that is attached to a shaft that’s inserted into series of rings whose number differs from gram positive to gram negative cells
- gram positive cells contain S and M rings situated in area of cell membrane
- gram negative cells have additional L and P rings associated with outer membrane and peptidoglycan of cell
- shaft, rings, and accessory proteins=basal body
proton motive force (pmf)
- rotates flagellum
- established when proteins associated with basal body transport protons across cell membrane creating a charge differential
- induces S and M rings to rotate which rotates shaft, hook, and filament
monotrichous (polar)
-on flagellum
lophotrichous
-multiple flagella from one side of cell
peritrichous
-flagella surrounding cell
amphitrichous
-multiple flagella on opposite sides
wet mounts
- can be used to determine motility
- drop of viable cells placed on slide and covered
- observed with phase-contrast microscope
- rapid swimming movement of cells in microscopic field conforms motility
- easily dry out due to evaporation
hanging drop technique
- can be used to determine motility
- drop of cells placed on cover glass placed over special slide with concave depression in center
- prevents evaporation