Hi Arun,

a standard light microscope will do when you use Giemsa stain. If you have a fluorescence mocroscope available I would prefer staining with acridine orange because of the more clear pictures and easier interpretation. DAPI has the higher specificity for DNA but you don't see cell bounderies (suitable for automated analyses).

The answer depends somewhat on the question you wish to address and on the cells you are going to use. Please could you give more details: Dose effect curves in vitro (cell culture)? If so, what cells and cultures are you going to unse? Biomonitoring of environmental exposure? What tissues to examine?

Good luck

Walther.