2. HISTORY
Endospores were first described by Cohn (1872) in Bacillus
subtilis and later by Koch(1876) in the pathogen, Bacillus
anthracis.
Cohn demonstrated the heat resistance of endospores in B.
subtilis, and Koch described the developmental cycle of
spore formation in B. anthracis.
3. HISTORY CONTD….
In 1922, Dorner published a method for staining endospores. It
employed a lengthy heating step but resulted in differential
staining of endospores and vegetative cells in the same sample.
Shaeffer and Fulton modified Dorner’s method in 1933 to
make the process faster.
4. ENDOSPORES…..
Endospores are so named because they are formed intracellularly,
although they are eventually released from this mother cell or
sporangium as free spores.
An endospore is a spherical/oval, thick-walled, highly resistant
structure formed in certain bacterial species that represent a
dormant or resting stage in the growth cycle of an organism. e.g.
Bacillus sp., Clostridium sp.
5. ENDOSPORES…..
Exhaustion of nutrients (Carbon and Nitrogen)
Sub-optimal temperatures
NOT a method of reproduction
The endospore consists of the bacterium's DNA and part of
its cytoplasm, surrounded by a very tough outer coating.
Triggering
factors
6. COVERINGS OF SPORE
Spore wall :
• delicate membrane from
which cell wall of future
vegetative bacterium develop
Spore cortex
Spore coat
• tough, multi-layered
Exosporium
7. RESISTANT TO….
Ultraviolet radiation
Desiccation
High temperature
Extreme freezing
Chemical disinfectants
Starvation
DESTROYED BY….
Autoclaving
Tyndallisation
ENDOSPORES…..
8. Germination of spores-
Increase in metabolic
activity of spore
Endospore swells
Germ cell appears by
rupture or absorption of
spore coat
Elongates to vegetative
bacterium
9. Distend bacillary body –
Clostridium spp.
Do not distend bacillary body –
B. anthracis
Central – B. anthracis,
C. bifermentans
Terminal - C. tetani, C. tertium
Sub-terminal – C. perfringens
(club-shaped)
Oval - B. anthracis, C. tertium
(tennis racket)
Spherical - C. tetani. (drum-stick)
SHAPE, POSITION AND SIZE OF
SPORE RELATIVE TO PARENT CELL
13. Endospores are best observed in unstained wet films
under the phase contrast microscope.
They appear as large, refractile, oval or spherical within
the bacterial mother cells or elsewhere free from the
bacteria.
17. MODIFIED ZIEHL-NEELSEN STAINING
METHOD
Spores – red , Bacteria – blue
Counterstain - Loeffler’s methylene
blue for 1-2 min
Decolourise using 0.25% to 0.5%
sulphuric acid for 7-10 min
Wash with water
Heat the slide intermittently until steam
rises for 5 min
Cover the slide with carbol fuchsin
Heat fix the smear
18. DORNER METHOD
Vegetative cells – colourless Endospores – red
Background – black.
Observe under oil immersion lens
Dry a thin even film of nigrosin(10%) on the slide
Rinse with water and blot dry
Decolorize with acid-alcohol for 1 minute
Wash with water
Cover the smear with carbol fuchsin and
intermittently heat the slide for 5 min. Do not
allow the stain on the smear to dry
Heat fix the slide
19. VARIATION IN DORNER METHOD
Vegetative cells – colourless Endospores -
red Background – black.
Observe under oil immersion lens.
Mix a loopful of nigrosin on a glass slide
with one loopful of the boiled carbol
fuchsin-organism suspension and air dry to
a thin film.
Immerse the tube in a boiling water bath
for 10 minutes.
Mix an aqueous suspension of bacteria
with an equal volume of carbol fuchsin in a
test tube.
20. SCHAEFFER-FULTON METHOD / MODIFIED
ASHBY METHOD
Vegetative cell – pink or red and Spore – green.
Counterstained with safranine 1 min, vegetative cells stained.
After cooling, outer layer makes the spore resistant to the action of
decolorizing agent (water), but water can easily decolorize the vegetative
cells.
Smear taken from the steam bath and allowed to cool.
Both the spore and vegetative cells appear green.
Smear is heated over a steam bath for 5 min.
The primary stain, Malachite Green, is added over the heat fixed bacterial
smear
23. MOELLER STAIN
Spores red; Bacteria-blue.
The slide is rinsed with acidified ethanol,
and counter-stained with methylene blue
for 30 seconds.
The slide is then heated over a bunsen
burner, or suspended over a hot water
bath, covered with a paper towel, and
steamed for 3 minutes.
Carbol fuchsin is applied to a heat-fixed
slide.
24. MODIFIED MOELLER STAINING
METHOD
Rinse thoroughly in running water
Differentiate with 2 % sulphuric acid for 5-10 sec.
Rinse thoroughly in running water.
Flood with un-steamed Kinyoun’s carbol-fuchsin solution containing Tergitol
7, and stain for 3 min.
Rinse thoroughly in running water.
Immerse in 5% chromic acid solution for 3 min.
Fix in absolute methyl alcohol for 1-3 min.
Spread a small drop of the specimen on a slide, and allow it to air-dry at room
temperature.
25. MODIFIED MOELLER STAINING
METHOD CONTD…
Microscopic examination using oil
objective lens
Rinse with running water and allow
it to air-dry.
Counterstain with 0.1 % Loeffler’s
methylene blue for 1-2 min.
Rinse for 10 sec in running water.
Decolorize with 80 % ethanol until
removal of excess stain dye from the
slides.
26. ABBOTT'S METHOD
Spores blue, bodies of the bacteria red.
Wash in water, dry and mount.
Stain for 8-10 seconds in aniline-fuchsin solution.
Wash in water.
Wash in 95% alcohol containing 0.2 to 0.3% HCl.
Wash in water.
Stain the slide deeply with methylene-blue, heating until the solution boils.
27. HOLBROOK AND ANDERSON
LIPID/SPORE STAINING METHOD(1980)
Wash in water, dry and examine. Spores-green, vegetative bacilli-red,
lipid granules-unstained.
Counterstain with 0.5% safranine for 20 sec.
Wash film with xylene for 5 sec and blot dry.
Stain with 0.3% sudan black B in 70% ethanol for 15 min
Stain the film with 5% malachite green for 2 min while the slide is
held little above the surface of boiling water in a beaker. Then wash
with water and blot dry.
Air dry the film and fix with minimal flaming.
28. Many treatments are known which destroy the permeability barrier,
such as
Severe heat fixation (Bartholomew and 'Mittwer, 1950),
Acid hydrolysis (Robinow, 1951),
Ultraviolet light (Bartholomew and Mittwer, 1952),
Mechanical rupture (Fitz-James, 1953; Rode and Foster, 1960).
OTHER MODIFICATIONS OF
DORNER’S AND SCHAEFFER-
FULTON METHODS….
30. SUMMARY
Method Primary stain Decoloriser Counterstain Interpretation
Grams stain Crystal violet Acetone Saffranin Spore-colourless
Bacteria-violet
Modified Ziehl-
Neelsen Stain
Carbol fuchsin 0.25%-0.5%
H2SO4
Loeffler’s
methylene blue
Spore-red
Bacteria-blue
Dorner stain Carbol fuchsin Acid alcohol Nigrosin Spore-red
Bacteria-colorless
Variation in
dorner stain
Carbol fuchsin Nigrosin Spore-red
Bacteria-colorless
Schaeffer-Fulton
stain
Malachite green Water Safranine Spore-green
Bacteria-red
Bartholomew and
mittwer method
Malachite green Water Safranine Spore-green
Bacteria-red
Abbott's Method Methylene blue Acid alcohol Aniline-fuchsin Spore-blue
Bacteria-red
Moeller stain Carbol fuchsin Acidified
ethanol
Methylene blue Spore-red
Bacteria-blue
Modified moeller
stain
Kinyoun’s
carbol-fuchsin
2%H2SO4
80% ethanol
Loeffler’s
methylene blue
Spore-red
Bacteria-blue
31. REFERENCES
Colour Atlas & Textbook of Diagnostic Microbiology by Koneman
Practical Medical Microbiology by Mackie & McCartney
Monica Cheesbrough
Textbook of Microbiology by Ananthanarayan
http://www.microbelibrary.org/component/resource/laboratory-test/3112-
endospore-stain-protocol
http://chestofbooks.com/health/disease/Pathology/Methods-For-Staining-
Spores.html#
http://www.generalmicroscience.com/microbial-laboratory-
techniques/endospore-staining-by-bartholomew-and-mittwers-method/
M. Hayama, K. Oana, T. Kozakai, S. Umeda, J. Fujimoto, H. Ota, Y.
Kawakami Proposal of a simplified technique for staining bacterial spores
without applying heat-successful modification of Moeller’s method. Eur J
Med Res (2007) 12: 356-359.
Editor's Notes
Bacteria produce a single endospore internally. The spore is sometimes surrounded by a thin covering known as the exosporium, which overlies the spore coat. The spore coat, which acts like a sieve that excludes large toxic molecules like lysozyme, is resistant to many toxic molecules and may also contain enzymes that are involved in germination. The cortex lies beneath the spore coat and consists of peptidoglycan. The core wall lies beneath the cortex and surrounds the protoplast or core of the endospore. The core contains the spore chromosomal DNA which is encased in chromatin-like proteins known as SASPs (small acid-soluble spore proteins), that protect the spore DNA from UV radiation and heat. The core also contains normal cell structures, such as ribosomes and other enzymes, but is not metabolically active.
Up to 20% of the dry weight of the endospore consists of calcium dipicolinate within the core, which is thought to stabilize the DNA. Dipicolinic acid could be responsible for the heat resistance of the spore, and calcium may aid in resistance to heat and oxidizing agents. However, mutants resistant to heat but lacking dipicolinic acid have been isolated, suggesting other mechanisms contributing to heat resistance are also at work.[5]
Visualising endospores under the light microscope can be difficult due to the impermeability of the endospore wall to dyes and stains. While the rest of a bacterial cell may stain, the endospore is left colourless. To combat this, a special stain technique called a Moeller stain is used. That allows the endospore to show up as red, while the rest of the cell stains blue. Another staining technique for endospores is the Schaeffer-Fulton stain, which stains endospores green and bacterial bodies red. The arrangement of spore layers is as follows:
Exosporium
Spore coat
Spore cortex
Core wall
Because of their tough protein coats made of keratin, spores are highly resistant to normal staining procedures.
C. Perfringens also called as C.welchii. Other subterminals- C.sporogenes, c. botulinum, c.novyi type C. other terminals- C. innocuum, C. putrifiucm, C. melanominatum. C.bifermentans and C. sordelli don’t typically bulge. Central – B.cereus, B.megaterium
It is equivalent to combining Burdon’s stain for lipid with Ashby’s stain for spores.