Want this question answered?
It is used for those bacteria which contain fat or lipid layer on their outer wall, and did not stain with grams staining. e.g. Mycobacterium
Because special staining techniques involving acids are required to view these bacteria under the microscope, they are referred to as acid-fast bacilli (AFB).
Two acid-fast bacteria that are pathogenic are:1. Mycobacterium tuberculosis2. Mycobacterium avium- Microbioman
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an acid fast bacterium. It has a high concentration of mycolic acids in the plasma membrane which prevent its staining by typical Gram stain methods. It must be stained with a procedure containing an acid decolorizing step to best visualize it under the microscope (Ziehl Nielson or Kinyon Methods). It resists decolorization with the acid, which is where the term "Acid Fast" comes from....
Acid-fast staining is used in determining tuberculosis. It can also track the progress of antibiotic therapy and determine how contagious a person is. Yay A&M microbiology lab!
By this technique, we can diffentiate the acid fast and non acid- fast bacteria. The non acid-fast bacteria are M.tuberculosis and N.asteriodes. They are the causative agents for tuberculosis and nocardiosis respectively. The acid fast staining or the Ziel- Nielsen's staining is the only procedure to find out the above mentioned pathogens.
The Ziehl-Neelsen stain is also known as the acid-fast stain. It contains sulfuric acid, and is used to identify acid-fast bacteria, or bacteria resistant to decolorization by acids from staining.
An acid-fast pathogen is a bacteria that is harmful to humans. They have cell walls that contain mycolic acid which is a lipid. Common Gram type staining techniques wont work with these cells. A special stain carbolfuchsin is used to penetrate the wall.After staining you wash with acid alcohol if the stain remains it is acid fast if it washes out it is non-acid fast.Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a well known acid-fast pathogen
E.Coll is definitely acid fast negative,due to its ability to dye with methylene blue.
One thing that endospore stains have in common with the acid fast stain is that heat primary stain penetration. Another thing that endospore stains have in common with acid fast stains are counterstain.
acid fast staining or Ziel Neelson staining for observing Mycobacteria tuberculosis or Koch bacilli from sputum sample.
E. Coli is definitely acid fast negative, due to it's ability to dye with methylene blue. It has no outer waxy exterior..
It acts as the mordant to soften the mycolic acid so that the stain can penetrate the cell.
Saprophytic mycobacteria are acid fast and do not cause serious disease.
A secondary stain is Methylene blue. This type of stain is used in a acid fast staining. This type of staining test can determine medical conditions such as tuberculosis.
Mycobacterium is am example for acid fast bacteria. These bacterias have large amounts of mycolic acids in their cell wall which are impermeable to any other staining technique.
Acid-fast organisms are characterized by wax-like cell walls.Because the cell wall is so resistant to most compounds, acid-fast organisms require a special staining technique.1. The primary stain used in acid-fast staining, carbolfuchsin, is lipid-soluble and contains phenol, which helps the stain penetrate the cell wall. (violet or purple).2. This is further assisted by the addition of heat.3. The smear is then rinsed with a very strong decolorizer, which strips the stain from all non-acid-fast cells but does not permeate the cell wall of acid-fast organisms.4. The decolorized non-acid-fast cells then take up the counterstain. (safranin- red).Gram positive bacteria will stain purple.Gram negative bacteria will stain red/pink.