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SMEAR PREPARATION
The preparation of a smear is required for many laboratory procedures,
including the Gram-stain. The purpose of making a smear is to fix the bacteria
onto the slide and to prevent the sample from being lost during a staining
procedure. A smear can be prepared from a solid or broth medium. Below are some
guidelines for preparing a smear for a Gram-stain.
1. Place one needle of solid bacterial growth or two
loops
of liquid bacterial growth in the center of a clean slide.
2. If
working from a solid medium, add one drop (and only one drop)
of water to
your specimen with a water bottle. If using a broth
medium, do not add the
water.
3. Now, with your inoculating loop, mix the specimen with
the water
completely and spread the mixture out to cover about half of
the
total slide area.
4. Place
the slide on a slide warmer and wait for it to dry. The smear is now ready for
the staining procedure.
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