In this procedure living, potentially pathogenic bacteria are smeared on the glass slide and allowed to air dry. The gram stain the gram stain, originally developed in 1884 by christian gram, is probably the most important procedure in all of microbiology. Gram staining is an empirical method of differentiating bacterial species into two large groups grampositive and gramnegative based on the chemical and. In most microbiological staining procedures, the bacteria are first fixed to the slide by the heat fixed smear figure 1. The gram stain is fundamental to the phenotypic characterization of. They are often thin, wispy, eyelashlike faintly staining curved gram negative rods. The gram stain is almost always the first step in the identification of a bacterial organism, while gram staining is a valuable. Welcome to, constantly growing and evolving collection of microbiology notes and information. This video explains the principle behind gram staining procedure. This can result in areas that are under decolorized, thus organisms that are truly gram negative will appear gram positive. Gram staining is the single most useful test in the microbiology laboratory given its simplicity and.
It is almost always the first test performed for the identification of bacteria. The reason for staining bacteria is due to the fact that most bacteria are transparent and cannot be seen through the microscope. The name comes from the danish bacteriologist hans christian gram, who developed the technique gram staining differentiates bacteria by the chemical and physical. Cover different classification schemes for grouping bacteria, especially the use of the gram stain 2. The differences in cell wall composition of gram positive and gram negative bacteria account for the gram staining differences. The most widely used staining procedure in microbiology is the gram stain, discovered by the danish scientist and physician hans christian joachim gram in 1884. Links to pubmed are also available for selected references. In spite of his defective method, his name lives on jay hardy, cls, sm ascp hile working with infected lung tissue. The procedure is named for the person who developed the technique, danish bacteriologist hans christian gram. Principle, procedure, interpretation, examples and.
Principle, reagents, procedure, step, result interpretation of gram. Gram stain reagents for in vitro use only catalogue no. This should be a thin, not milky, suspension or it will not stain. When stained with a primary stain and fixed by a mordant, some bacteria are able to retain the primary while others get decolorized by. Heat the slide for few seconds until it becomes hot to the touch so that bacteria are firmly mounted to the slide. Crystal violet primary stain violet colored, stains all. Grams iodine added as a mordant to enhance crystal violet staining by forming a crystal violetiodine complex enhances union between primary stain and cell wall intensifies color.
The staining technique, developed in the late 1700s by christian gram classifies the rigid cell walled bacteria into one of two groups based on whether they are able to resist the decolorizing action of an alcoholic. Gram stain or gram staining, also called grams method, is a method of staining used to distinguish and classify bacterial species into two large groups. They have less amount of peptidoglycan in their cell wall. Gram staining is a very important technique used in biology labs all over the world. Alternatively they may be much smaller bananalike forms with pointed ends. They have lipopolysaccharide containing a compound known as lipid a or. The gram stain is a differential method of staining used to assign bacteria to one of two groups grampositive and gramnegative based on the properties of their cell walls.
Preparing serial dilutions 40 basic pract book 2006 21106 11. I have explained the difference between cell wall structure of gram positive and gram negative bacteria along with the function of. Gram staining is a common technique used to differentiate two large groups of bacteria based on their different cell wall constituents. Gram staining is a differential staining technique that differentiates bacteria into two groups.
To answer this question, we have to have a close look at the cell wall layers of these bacteria. The gram stain is a complex and differential staining procedure that remains a useful. Principle, procedure and results february 2, 2015 acharya tankeshwar bacteriology, staining techniques in microbiology 45 gram staining method, the most important procedure in microbiology, was developed by danish physician hans christian gram in 1884. Gram staining lab report essay sample sample essays. Microbiology as a scientific discipline evolved slowly over the years. The cell walls of gram positive bacteria have a thick layer of proteinsugar complexes called peptidoglycan and lipid content is low. The lipoid capsule of the acidfast organism takes up carbolfuchsin and resists decolorization with a dilute acid rinse.
Share your knowledge share your word file share your pdf file share your ppt file. Thus, various staining methods are developed to facilitate bacterial detection. Gram staining or grams method is an emprical method of differentiating bacterial species into two large groups grampositive and gramnegative based on the chemical and physical properties of their cell wall. The use of tap water is not recommended when making the smears or when performing rinse steps in some staining protocols, for example, in the ziehlneelsen protocol, mycobacterium gordonae. Faintly staining gramnegative organisms, such as campylobacter and brucella, may be visualized using an alternative counterstain e. Whether youre a student, professor, working in the medical field or just curious about microbiology, im sure youll find our articles interesting and informative. The gram stain procedure click start lab from a liquid culture, take a loopful of bacteria emulsify it in a small drop of water or saline on the slide. The gram stain procedure distinguishes between gram positive and gram negative groups by coloring these cells red or violet. Add the primary stain crystal violet and incubate 1 minute. Ziehlneelsen staining procedure method stepwise when you see this icon click on it to view what the slide would appear like if that step of the staining procedure was. Get a printable copy pdf file of the complete article 3. Gram stain is one of the most common staining procedures. Full text full text is available as a scanned copy of the original print version.
The lipoid capsule of the mycobacteria is of such high molecular weight that it is waxy at room temperature and successful penetration by the aqueousbased staining solutions such as grams is prevented. The structure of the organisms cell wall determines whether the organism is gram psitive or negative. Histologic staining options available include, but are not limited to. This differential staining procedure separates most bacteria into two groups on the basis of cell wall composition. It includes introduction, history,principle, method of gram staining procedure slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. The gram staining procedure is one of the most basic and important tests performed in the clinical microbiology laboratory. The modified procedure provided greater reagent stability and better differentiation of organisms. When stained with a primary stain and fixed by a mordant, some bacteria are able to retain the primary stain by resisting declorization while others get decolorized by a decolorizer. June 12, 2018 by sagar aryal gram staining is the common, important, and most used differential staining techniques in microbiology, which was introduced by danish bacteriologist hans christian gram in 1884.
Introduction observation of bacteria with conventional bright field microscopy yields relatively little. Module the gram stain procedure michigan state university. They are transparent, and their detection is difficult under living and unstained conditions. Principle of gram stain the two major groups of bacteria can be divided into gram positive and gram negative. Gram positive cell wall contains a thick layer of peptidoglycan with numerous teichoic acid crosslinking which resists the. It is one of the differential stains used to characterize bacteria as either gram positive bacteria or. It has to be one of the most repeated procedures done in any lab. Gram staining tips page 2 of 2 some specimens on preparation will have areas on the slide that are thicker than others. Gram staining uses crystal violet to stain cell walls, iodine as a mordant, and a fuchsin or safranin counterstain to mark all bacteria. The gram stain technique is based on the differential structure of the cellular membranes and cell walls of the two groups. Cell wall of gram positive and gram negative bacteria. Principle the gram reaction is dependent on permeability of the bacterial cell wall and cytoplasmic membrane, to the dyeiodine complex. Gram was actually using dyes on human cells, and found that bacteria preferentially bind some dyes. The gram stain is a type of differential stain that allows a microbiologist to.
Bacterial classification, structure and function introduction the purpose of this lecture is to introduce you to terminology used in microbiology. Gram staining is a quick procedure used to look for the presence of bacteria in tissue samples and to characterise bacteria as grampositive or gramnegative, based on the chemical and physical properties of their cell. Gram staining technique is the widely used differential staining technique in bacteriology. The gram staining technique differentiates the mixed culture cells into two terms as grampositive bacteria and gramnegative bacteria. Although they appear very different, each type of microscope relies on the same underlying principle. The microscopicanalysis using gram staining technique showed that majority of the bacterial isolates were. Gram stain hans christian gram history and principles of gram.
This was developed in 1884 by a danish bacteriologist, hans christian gram. Flood slide with crystal or gentian violet 60 seconds. Gram staining is a differential staining technique that provides an easy differentiation of bacteria into one of two groups. Principle, procedure, interpretation, examples and animation last updated.
Sg5155 our gramstain reagents are intended to be used as a differential stain for the microscopic examination of bacterial cultures and laboratory specimens. Finally, look for and quantify the amount of mobiluncus morphotypes present. This difference in staining is due to the difference in the cell wall components of gram positive and gram negative bacteria. Key difference gram stain vs acid fast bacteria are very small microorganisms. Other modifications have been specifically developed for staining.
Gramnegative bacteria have a high concentration of lipids dissolve in decolorizer 1. Make a slide of tissue or body fluid that is to be stained. Principle the gram stain is used to classify bacteria on the basis of their forms, sizes, cellular morphologies, and gram reactions. It is a technique used to differentiate types of bacteria using certain physical and chemical characteristics of their cell walls. Principle, preparation of reagents and interpretation using this link s. Gram stain report introduction the purpose of this experiment is to determine the shape and gram stain of the bacteria under a microscope. Gram stain principle, reagents, procedure, steps, results. In gram positive bacteria, the crystal violet dye iodine complex combines to form a larger molecule which precipitates within the cell.
Most bacteria can be differentiated by the gram reactions due to difference in their cell wall structure. Gram variable observations in gram staining the gram. The gram stain dallas county community college district. Gram staining principles gram staining is used to determine gram status to classify bacteria broadly.
1047 1116 731 991 231 92 468 1672 1471 340 476 2 1343 131 1130 79 438 759 205 4 681 1257 821 809 268 775 1266 218 716 43 29 387 397 1307 1053 740