I have some precious samples I need to image but they are covered in bacteria. The main issue I have is I stained them with Hoescht and the bacteria have taken this up so that I can no longer "see" the cell nucleus.
So is there a way to decontaminate fixed cells?
With antibiotics or serial dilution (if they are not many). You can easily find a protocol in google.
The addition of antibiotics to "decontaminate" the fixed tissues is not likely to help you rid them of bacterial contamination. This is because the fixative would ordinarily have killed the bacteria, thus rendering the antibiotic of no effect. Consider differential staining or Immunohistochemistry. The latter in particular is highly sensitive and specific and can highlight a wide variety of antigens.
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