Hello all,
I have stained some bacteria using Gram staining process i.e. Gram Positive are stained with crystal violet and Gram negative are stained with sefranin. My aim is to see bacteria at higher magnification than that achieved with my optical microscope (100X or 200X). Can I see them in confocal laser scanning microscope or I need to use some other dye?
Thanks
Mubashar Rehman
Mubashar,
Confocal needs a fluorescent marker to work. Also, your resolution of your image is finally going to be limited by diffraction. If you need increased resolution, you might consider using a technique like PALM or STORM.
Dear Dr. Mubashar,
to my sorrow Gram staining is good for usual optical microscope but it doesn't fit for confocal. But confocal mictroscope allows to use alive cultures of microbes without any fixation/ May be you make a picture of them, then fix , Gram -stain , make a picture under the maximal magnification with the immersion , By this way you can compare the pictures and have the interesting results...
Dear Mubashar,
I have found this paper worth useful and according to your question. Have a look!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22115307.
Grettings.
For confocal microscopy you need fluorescent dyes. Search for another dyes (instead of Giemsa and saffranin) for the visualization.
Best regards
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