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Quantification of polysaccharides fixed to Gram stained slides using lactophenol cotton blue and digital image processing

Dark blue rings and circles emerged when the non-specific polysaccharide stain lactophenol cotton blue was added to Gram stained slides. The dark blue staining is attributable to the presence of capsular polysaccharides and bacterial slime associated with clumps of Gram-negative bacteria.  Since all...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Ericksen, Bryan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: F1000 Research Limited 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5754746/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29333228
http://dx.doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.5779.5
Descripción
Sumario:Dark blue rings and circles emerged when the non-specific polysaccharide stain lactophenol cotton blue was added to Gram stained slides. The dark blue staining is attributable to the presence of capsular polysaccharides and bacterial slime associated with clumps of Gram-negative bacteria.  Since all bacterial cells are glycosylated and concentrate polysaccharides from the media, the majority of cells stain light blue. The contrast between dark and light staining is sufficient to enable a digital image processing thresholding technique to be quantitative with little background noise. Prior to the addition of lactophenol cotton blue, the Gram-stained slides appeared unremarkable, lacking ubiquitous clumps or stained polysaccharides.  Adding lactophenol cotton blue to Gram stained slides is a quick and inexpensive way to screen cell cultures for bacterial slime, clumps and biofilms that are invisible using the Gram stain alone.