1. Wet Preparations and Staining of Living Cells
Kasandra Keenan
Student # 4202010
BIOL 104
November 22nd
, 2012

2. Introduction:
The Wet Preparations and Staining of Living Cells lab was about my student piers and myself
learning how to use and identify unstained slides, practice using the light on the microscope to
obtain contrast, prepare a wet preparation, and prepare a stained slide and examine them.
Objective/Purpose:
The Objective/Purpose of this lab was for my student piers and myself was to learn how to
prepare and look at a wet prep, look at organism in unstained state, we also practiced adjusting
the microscope light so we could obtain contrast. We also learned how to prepare a wet
preparation and stain.
Materials:
- Microscope
- Disposable gloves
- Slides
- Coverslips
- Pasteur Pipettes
- Sterile Tongue Depressors
- Motile Organism culture
- Methanol
- 0.1% methylene blue
- Immersion oil
- Lens paper
- Kim wipes
- Lens Cleaning solution
Procedure:
Step 1: Mix the two cultures that have been given to you by tapping the tube with your finger
Step 2: The teacher will be teaching you how to use a sterile technique, using this remove a
drop with a Pasteur pipette and put a drop in the middle of your glass slide. Your glass should
be clean and a sterile pipette should be used. When done with your pipette disposes of it into
the proper container.
Step 3: Put you cover slip on the edge of the drop you put in the middle of your glass slide.
Slowly lower the slip, the drop should spread along the edges of the slip. When doing this avoid
bubbles under the slip, the will obscure your viewing field.
Step 4: Once your wet prep is ready examine it using 10X and 40X objective lens, adjust your
light to see contrast if it is not clear.
Step 5: When focusing the slide make sure you focus the edge of the coverslip as contrast will
be achieved more clearly. You can do this by closing your substage iris diaphragm ring.

3. Step 6: Movement of an organism should not be confused with Brownian movement or
convection currents. Organisms change their position when it compares itself to a position of
another organism.
Step 7: Describe and Draw what you saw under the microscope.
Step 8: Put your slides and gloves into the proper disposal container, wash your table with table
disinfectant and wash your hands.
Observation/Results:
Why did you not use oil to examine your wet prep?
We didn’t use it for wet prep because the cover slip will move all over.
How did you dispose of your slide from your wet prep?
I put it into the Biohazard bucket, to stop the spread of organism.
Why did you need to adjust your light and contrast to observe motility?
I adjusted it so I could see the specimen more clearly. They are clear so we need the light and
contrast to have a share to see it.
Why did the buccal smear only stain varying shades of blue?
It stained blue because we used the methylene blue. The nucleus had the most stained of blue
because the nucleus is more dense.
Conclusion:
The objective helped us learn how to do each step of the Wet Preparation and staining of living
cells, without it we wouldn’t know what we would be looking for nor doing. My Observations
helped me learn what to look for in the future when doing this type of lab. What I would do
different is practise more placing slips onto the slide and making sure air bubbles did not make
it under the slip.