What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of using a wet mount vs hanging drop mount slide preparation?

The wet mount tend to dry out quickly under the heat of the microscope light; it is simpler to perform than the wet mount, but it is useful for short-term observation only. The hanging drop is a more complex technique, but it allows for longer-term obervation and more reliable observation of motility.

What are the advantages of using a hanging drop mount rather than a wet mount?

It does not distort the cell shape and arrangement. Besides, the hanging drop method provides a better view of motility in bacteria than the wet mount method. It is also helpful in the classification of the bacteria, whether they are motile or immotile.

What are some advantages and disadvantages of a wet mount?

Terms in this set (4)
  • Wet-mount: A microscope slide specimen is suspended in a drop of liquid located between the slide and coverslip. …
  • Different Types of Wet-mounts: -Water from organism’s natural habitat. …
  • Advantages: -Quick preparation. …
  • Disadvantages: -Movement of specimens make it difficult to draw/photograph.

What is the major advantage of using living cell preparations hanging drop or wet mount rather than stained preparations?

what is a major advantage of using living cell preparations (hanging-drop or wet mount) rather than stained preparations? With living cell preparations, the motility of the bacteria can be seen, as well as the original shape and size of the bacteria, and binary fission.

What is the importance of hanging drop preparation technique?

The hanging drop technique is a well-established method used in microbiology, which allows the drops of medium to be maintained with minimal evaporation and without spreading. It was initially developed and used for neural tissue culture in the early of 20th century [1-3].

What is hanging drop technique and its importance?

Hanging drop preparation is a special type of wet mount (in which a drop of medium containing the organisms is placed on a microscope slide), often is used in dark illumination to observe the motility of bacteria. … This preparation gives good views of microbial motility.

Are there any disadvantages to the hanging drop technique?

Disadvantages: The hanging drop method is also far too risky to use with highly pathogenic organisms. Disposal: Place depression slide in the plastic beaker labeled “Depression Slides”; these will be autoclaved and reused.

What is a hanging drop method?

The hanging drop technique is a well-established method for examining living, unstained, very small organisms. The traditional procedure employs a glass slide with a circular concavity in the centre into which a drop of fluid, containing the ‘microorganisms’, hangs from a coverslip.

What are some advantages of a wet mount specimen?

Wet mount slide preparation allows the viewing of specimen behavior as they interact with the environment. Which of the three factors affecting image quality is altered by the light source? Contrast can be altered by light intensity and staining. How do the coarse and fine focus knobs work on a brightfield microscope?

What are the disadvantage of wet mount?

]. One of the drawbacks of iodine wet mounts is that the cysts are stained poorly with the iodine and are less retractile than unstained cysts in the saline preparation; therefore, they are difficult to visualize and can easily be missed.

What is one disadvantage of heat fixing a sample?

If your slide is wet and you heat fix it, the bacteria will boil and the cellular morphology will be lost. If your slide is wet and fix it in methanol, it will most likely wash off the slide. Smears that are too thick will most likely wash off the slide regardless of the fixation method.

What are advantages of using wet mount slide preparation?

Making microscope slides in a wet mount has a lot of advantages. The liquid refraction makes it much easier to see intricate structures. If the specimen is alive, the liquid will make it possible to view both the natural color and mobility patterns.

What are the disadvantages of permanent slides?

What are some disadvantages of permanent slides? Permanent slides contain specimens that are fixed, dehydrated and possibly also microtomed (sliced into thin sections). The organisms are therefore not moving. Over time the specimen may also start to lose color.

What are the disadvantages of heat fixing?

  • Distorts the true size of the cell.
  • May destroy heat- sensitive cell structures.
  • May create artifacts.

What is one advantage of heat fixing a specimen?

Heat fixation adheres the cells to the slide and coagulates the bacterial proteins, effectively killing the bacteria. Heat fixation is necessary to provide contrast between the cells and the background. Heat-fixation ensures that the smear is thin enough for good visualization of individual cells.

What is one advantage of heat fixing a sample?

An advantage of using this method is that prior fixation by heat is not needed, so the organisms are seen in more lifelike shapes. Nigrosin is an acidic stain which becomes negatively charged. Since the surface of most bacterial cells is negatively charged, the cell surface repels the stain.

What are the advantages of a wet mount over a heat fixed and stained smear?

Compared to permanently mounted slides, wet mounts do have certain advantages: Quick preparation: specimen fixation, dehydration and staining are not necessary (but possible, if required). For this reason, wet mounts are the first kind of mounts that students learn to make.

What is the advantage of heat fixing a smear?

Heat Fixing:

Heat fixing is a procedure in which heat is used to adhere a smear of bacteria to a slide. Heat fixing also denatures (kills) enzymes that can breakdown the bacteria, and the denaturing of these enzymes prevents autolysis (destruction) of the bacteria.