Hans christian gram and gram staining protocol

Gram staining is a method used in the medical laboratory to differentiate between two major groups of bacteria (Gram positive and Gram negative) based on the properties of their cell walls.

The Gram stain primarily flags the thick layer of peptioglycan certain bacterial organisms which are thus identified as gram positive. The Gram Stain was initially created by Hans Christian Gram to differentiate between pneumococci and klebsiella pneumonia.

Currently, gram stain is utilized in the lab as the first step conducted to identify bacterial organisms.

Requirements

There are four basic components that are used while conducting a gram staining procedure: primary stain (primary stain can be methyl violet, Gentian violet and crystal violet); Mordant (usually Gram’s iodine); Decolourizer (can be acetone, ethyl alcohol or a mixture of ethanol and acetone); a Counterstain (can be safranin, neutral red or carbol fuchsin).

Procedure