Purpose of Gram Staining
There are many purposes and uses of this technique that are explained briefly
- The main purpose of this technique is the identification of the different types of bacteria i.e., the difference between gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.
- It is a laboratory technique that can only be performed in labs. The main thing which is responsible to give color to the bacteria is their cell wall composition and thickness. There are a lot of bacterial families and species which can not get differentiated by this technique. For e.g., archaea, mainly archaebacteria.
- Some of the bacteria are gram-variable which means they can stain anyone either positive or negative while some are doesn’t stain any dye, they neither come under positive nor under negative. Such bacteria which doesn’t come under either the negative or positive category such bacteria are not identified by this technique.
- There are other techniques that are used for such bacteria. For such bacteria genetic sequencing, molecular techniques are used for their identification in detail. In medical research, this technique is very helpful.
- When the infection is there inpatient then staining is done on the fluid of his body. This technique is fast result giving so it is used more often than culturing in the case of infection. It is also used in the treatment of the patient.
- It is used in some special cases of infection. For e.g., in septic arthritis synovial fluid is used for gram staining, and in meningitis cerebrospinal fluid is used for diagnosis. In case of infection in the throat, lungs, skin wounds, or genitals this technique is used. It is also used to check infection in some body fluids such as urine and blood.
Gram Staining – Principle, Procedure, Purpose and Examples
Gram stain is a technique to impart color to the bacterial cell to differentiate between gram-positive bacteria and gram-negative bacteria based on cell wall composition. Gram Staining is a laboratory procedure that consists of four reagents crystal violet (primary stain), iodine (mordant), decolorizer (ethyl alcohol), and safranin (counter stain) to stain the bacterial cell. Hans Christian Gram is a Danish bacteriologist who named this stain and developed this method in 1884.
The basic function of this technique is to differentiate between bacteria based on the chemical and physical properties of the cell walls. The difference in the cells can be identified by the cell wall as the gram-negative bacteria has a thin cell wall due to which the violet stain gets washed out with ethanol whereas the cell wall of gram-positive bacteria is thicker because of which violet stain stays out and give pink color to the bacteria.
Table of Content
- What is Gram Stain?
- Gram-Negative Bacteria
- Gram-Positive Bacteria
- Gram Staining Principle
- Gram Staining Requirements
- Gram Staining Procedure
- Purpose of Gram Staining
- Examples Gram Staining
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