Acid-Fast Staining: Microwave Procedure
1. Make a heat-fixed smear of the microorganism to be examined.
2. Place a cut-to-fit piece of paper towel (2 layers of paper) into the bottom of
an empty Petri dish. Saturate the toweling with water.
3. Place the heat fixed slide on top of the paper towel and flood the slide with
carbol fuschin.
4. Close the Petri dish and microwave on full power for 30 seconds.
5. Move the Petri dish to the fume hood, and let the slide sit undisturbed for 2
minutes.
6. Gently rinse the slide with distilled water.
7. Decolorize with acid alcohol (3% HCl!!) until the run-off is clear.
8. Gently rinse the slide with distilled water.
9. Counterstain with methylene blue stain for 1 minute.
10. Rinse with distilled water.
11. Blot dry with bibulous paper and observe using oil immersion.
Endospore Staining: Microwave Procedure
1. Make a heat-fixed smear of the microorganism to be examined
2. Place a cut-to-fit piece of paper towel (2 layers of paper) into the bottom of
an empty Petri dish. Saturate the toweling with water.
3. Place the heat fixed slide on top of the paper towel and flood the slide with
malachite green.
4. Place the slide in the microwave, close the Petri dish, and heat for 30 sec. at
full power.
5. Move the Petri dish to the fume hood, and let the slide sit undisturbed for 2
minutes.
6. Gently rinse the slide with distilled water.
7. Counterstain with safranin for 1 minute.
8. Rinse with distilled water to remove excess safranin.
9. Blot dry with bibulous paper and observe using oil immersion.