Name: Kaetlin Rich

Period: 4
Lab group: Alexa Krause, Maria R, Maria M

Microscope Lab

Problem: What stains allow you best observe the most detail of a cheek
epithelial cell?

Prediction: I researched what stain would be the best to stain the cheek cells and
according to
http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/research_methods/microscopy/cellstain.html there
are many stains that are used to stain cells but I predict that the redstain would be the
best stain to see the cells.

Procedure: First I obtained my microscope and set it up. I then obtained a glass slide
and dropped one drop of dye in the middle of the slide. Next i used a dull toothpick to
scrape the inside of my cheek and mixed that into the drop in the glass slide. I then put
the slide on the microscope stage and began to observe the cells from magnifications of
40x, 100x, and 400x. I would then wash off the slide and repeat all of these steps using
stains: CAROLINA BLU, Toluidine Blue 0, and Sudan 111 Fat Stain.

Data/Observations:
Stain#1: Sudan111 Fat Stain Stain#2:Carolina Blu Stain#3: Toluidine Blue 0
Analysis:
1) While I was transitioning from the scanning lens to low power to high
power, I did tend to get lost a few times and i would have to go back to the
scanning lens to find the cells I was looking at. As I began to repeat these steps,
the cells became eaiser to find.
 2) Although I stained multiple cells the difference between the red and blue
stains are very obvious. The red stain made it a lot harder to examine the inside
of the cell. The blue cell made it a lot easier to examine the middle of the cell but
the Purple stain was ultimately better.

Conclusion: In todays lab, I worked to answer the problem of which stain is the best stain to
stain a cheek cell. In completing the lab, I obtained data, such as the different stains such as
red, blue, and purple all under the microscope at 40x, 100x, and 400x. These data did
demonstrate that the problem of the lab was answered because by actually looking at the cells it
is obvious that the purple stain made it the most clear to see the different parts of the cell. This
lab could be improved by more trials of different stains and more availability to test those new
stains.