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red are negatively charged and are repelled by the negative
surface of microbial cells. These dyes are used to color the
background while leaving the microbial cells unstained. In this
manner unstained transparent bacterial or fungal cells are easily
recognized.
The main advantage and use of negative staining technique is
that it allows examination of the normal morphology of
microorganisms. Negative staining does not require heat fixation
or other treatments such as decolorization with solvents or staining
cells with cationic dyes. Therefore, cells revealed by negative
staining remain as close to their native shapes and sizes as
possible.
This Flash movie illustrates procedural steps to stain a bacterial
strain using the negative staining technique. It is an original
artwork intended for use as illustrative teaching material in the
microbiology laboratory.
Further credits:
Authors
Hussein Shoeb
Department of Microbiology & Immunology
Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University
Cairo
Egypt
Email: shoeb@bostany.com
© American Society for Microbiology, Washington DC