wet mount A vaginal wet mount (or vaginal smear or wet prep) is a gynecologic test wherein a sample of vaginal discharge is observed by wet mount microscopy by placing the specimen on a glass slide and mixing with a salt solution. It is used to find the cause of vaginitis and vulvitis.
Full Answer
What is the best technique for a saline smear?
Direct Saline Smear. The direct smear technique, which can be performed on diarrheic or formed fecal samples, is most important when used with diarrheic specimens. To enhance detection, the substage condenser of the microscope should be adjusted to maximize contrast; unstained organisms may otherwise be overlooked.
How do you make a direct smear?
A direct smear is made by placing a drop of isotonic saline on a clean microscope slide and then mixing in a minute amount of fecal material ( Fig. 70-2, A ); the amount that adheres to the tip of a wooden applicator stick is sufficient.
What is a saline wet mount used for?
For example, saline wet mounts are the preferred method to view movements of certain protozoa during the feeding cycle stage. Saline wet mounts are prepared the same way a water wet mount is prepared except instead of water, of course, you use a saline solution.
How do you fix a smear in microbiology?
Disperse the bacteria on the loop in the drop of water on the slide and spread the drop over an area the size of a dime. It should be a thin, even smear. Allow the smear to dry thoroughly. Heat-fix the smear cautiously by passing the underside of the slide through the burner flame two or three times. It fixes the cell in the slide.
Why do we use normal saline solution in direct fecal smear?
It is particularly useful for the detection of live motile trophozoites of E. histolytica, Giardia lamblia, and Balantidium coli. It is usually more efficient for laboratories to do a simple concentration to avoid overlooking parasites that may be present in very small numbers.
What solution is used for a direct smear?
In order to be diagnostic, direct smears MUST be performed using fresh feces. Fresh feces means BODY TEMPERATURE (usually less than five or ten minutes old!). As the specimen cools, trophozoites lose their motility and their diagnostic features become less recognizable. In preparing the smear, use saline.
What is the purpose of saline wet mount?
― The saline wet mount is used for the initial microscopic examination of stools. It is employed primarily to demonstrate worm eggs, larvae, protozoan trophozoites, and cysts. This type of mount can also reveal the presence of red blood cells and white blood cells.
What is the purpose of the saline direct smear in the ova and parasite examination?
What is the purpose of the saline direct smear in the ova and parasite examination? Study the motility of trophozoites. If there is a significant delay between collection of the specimen and receipt in the lab.
How do you prepare the direct smear?
0:051:48Preparing a Direct Smear for AFB Microscopy - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipUse a wooden applicator stick to remove a small portion of the mucoid specimen. If the specimen isMoreUse a wooden applicator stick to remove a small portion of the mucoid specimen. If the specimen is watery use a transfer pipette instead selecting the thicker particles in the specimen.
What is salt flotation technique?
Flotation techniques (most frequently used: zinc sulfate or Sheather's sugar) use solutions which have higher specific gravity than the organisms to be floated so that the organisms rise to the top and the debris sinks to the bottom.
What are the disadvantages of iodine mount over the saline Mount fecal smear?
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.
Why is Koh more preferred over saline wet mount?
In the present observation, it was observed that KOH has a high detection rate compared to other wet mount preparations. So, the use of KOH preparation along with saline wet mount preparation in a routine pathology laboratory is a good practice. KOH wet mount is simple, the reagent are inexpensive and easily prepared.
What is the principle of wet preparation?
Principle: In wet mount, a drop of the bacteria suspension is placed on a slide, covered with a cover slip and observed under a compound microscope or preferably under a dark-field or phase-contrast microscope using oil-immersion objective.
What is the purpose of the direct wet examination?
The direct wet mount examination of soft-to-watery fecal specimens has a unique advantage that can detect the motile trophozoite stage of the protozoan species.
What type of stain can be used with a direct fecal smear?
Romanoswky stainThis test is commonly selected when we are looking for abnormal bacteria or yeast organisms in feces. These samples are stained using a Romanoswky stain, such as Diff Quik, and evaluated at 100x, 400x, and 1000x magnification.
What are the advantages of iodine in wet mounts?
Iodine wet mount preparations are most useful for protozoa, less so for helminths. If the iodine stain lightens or if atypical results are observed with known controls then a fresh working solution should be prepared.
Which of the following stains may be used for direct smear examination?
Gram stain is used primarily as a differential stain for bacteria, although it will also stain most fungi (especially yeasts) and some parasites, including Strongyloides and Trichomonas. The Gram stain procedure is commonly performed on direct smears of clinical specimens and on smears from cultures.
What is a smear preparation?
The first step in most bacterial staining procedures is the preparation of a smear. In a smear preparation, cells from a culture are spread in a thin film over a small area of a microscope slide, dried, and then fixed to the slide by heating or other chemical fixatives.
In what kind of clinical situation would a direct smear?
In what kind of clinical situation would a direct smear report from the laboratory be of urgent importance? A cervical smear for cancer or a thick blood smear for malaria.
When would a direct smear be indicated for examining a fecal sample?
Direct smears are indicated for recovery of parasites whose diagnostic stage is a trophozoite. They must be done with saline (not water) and performed using fresh feces (body temperature, less than 1 hour old). Trophozoites in older specimens will lose their motility and degenerate, becoming unrecognizable.
How to make a slide for ear infection?
This article describes the steps needed to create the slide. Figure 1: Press and roll a cotton swab along the affected ear or skin. It may help to very lightly moisten swab with saline. Figure 2: Roll the swab in several spots on a new slide and allow to air dry.
What is labeling a slide used for?
This technique can be used for preparation of any sample that can be dried on a slide, including skin and ear smears, aspirates, and urine sediment.
What to do if you add too much water to a slideslip?
If you have added too much water and the coverslip has floated or if water has bled out to the edges of the slide you can use the edge of the paper towel and place it next to the edge of the coverslip and just let the paper towel extract some of the excess water. Now you are ready to take your wet mount slide and place it on the microscope stage and start observing your specimen.
How to prepare a vaseline mount?
To prepare a Vaseline mount, use the Q-tip and apply some Vaseline only to the outer edge of the slide coverslip. Then once you have the outer edge coated you can lower the slide coverslip just like you would on a standard wet mount (as described above).
Why is it important to lower the other side of the coverslip slowly and gently?
It is important to lower the other side of the coverslip slowly and gently because is you just let the coverslip drop onto the water droplet you will get air bubbles. Air bubbles will make viewing your specimen much more difficult.
Why does my wet mount slide have bubbles?
Air bubbles can form if your slide coverslip closes too rapidly causing air to be trapped under the coverslip or a displacement in the water that is rapidly filled by air.
What is a wet mound slide?
A wet mound slide is a slide that is prepared with some type of liquid placed at the center of the slide that will serve as the medium through which the specimen will move or interact with during microscopic observation.
How to use Q tip on microscope?
The first step is to use the Q-tip to swab your sample and apply it to the center of the microscope slide. If your specimen is a littler larger you can use tweezers or whatever tool that will help you place the specimen in the center of the slide without damaging it, killing, it or contaminating it. If your sample is some microorganism in the water, you can skip this step.
Can you observe a specimen with air bubbles?
Sometimes air bubbles are unavoidable. However, the presence of air bubbles does not mean you will not be able to fully observe your specimen. If the air bubbles do not obstruct or impair your observation of the specimen, don’t worry about re-mounting the slide just work around the existing air bubbles.
What is direct saline smear?
Direct Saline Smear. The direct smear technique, which can be performed on diarrheic or formed fecal samples, is most important when used with diarrheic specimens. To enhance detection, the substage condenser of the microscope should be adjusted to maximize contrast; unstained organisms may otherwise be overlooked.
What is the purpose of fecal concentration?
Fecal concentration methods are often necessary to reveal the presence of protozoal cysts or oocysts. With this technique, sugar or salt solutions are used with centrifugation to concentrate the cysts or oocysts present in several grams of feces into a small volume of fluid that can be examined on a single slide.
Can sodium nitrate be used to detect protozoa?
Alone, standard sodium nitrate tabletop flotation is not adequate for detecting most protozoa, although coccidial oocysts are often revealed by this method. Although killed by the hypertonic solution and frequently lysed, trophozoites, especially those of Giardia, may also occasionally be seen on fecal flotation.