What is the purpose of the alcohol (OH) in the gram staining process?

Basic Clinical Laboratory Techniques 6E
6th Edition
ISBN:9781133893943
Author:ESTRIDGE
Publisher:ESTRIDGE
Chapter7: Basic Clinical Microbiology
Section7.7: Bacterial Identification And Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing
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What is the purpose of the alcohol (OH) in the gram staining process? Explain.

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Usually, microbes are colorless, so it’s very difficult to see them even after magnifying under microscope. So researcher does staining before identifying them under microscope.

Staining is a technique, which is used to enhance the contrast in samples. The steps of the staining are very important and need to do very carefully. Such as smear, applying stain, air dry, heat-fixed, addition of mordant, alcohol wash, water wash, blotting, etc.

Gram-staining is a very common type of staining, which is used to differentiate bacteria based on their different cell wall constituents.  It can differentiate gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.

  • Gram-positive bacteria- have thick layer of peptidoglycan layer in their cell wall, and for that reason they stain violet (crystal violet).
  • Gram-negative bacteria- have thin peptidoglycan layer in their cell wall, for that they stain red after gram staining.
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