Staining

Staining is a method of
imparting colour to cells, tissues
or microscopic components, so
they are highlighted and
visualized better under a
microscope.

SIMPLE STAINING
It determines the cell shape, size and
arrangement of the microorganisms.
It is a very quick or simple method to
perform and it makes the use of a
single stain only. These are of two
types, namely direct and indirect
staining.

Principle: The surface of a bacterial

cell has an overall acidic characteristic
because of large amount of carboxyl
groups located on the cell surface due
to acidic amino acids. Therefore, when
ionization of carboxyl groups takes
place it imparts negative charge to the
cell surface as per the following
equation.

Types of Simple Staining

Positive Stain Negative Stain

In positive staining, the negative In negative staining, the negative

charge of cell binds with the charge of cell repels the negative
positive charge of the dye charge of the dye resulting in
resulting in coloration of the cell. coloration of background of the
cell.