Simple Staining of Epithelial Cells from the Buccal Mucosa

Ingredients

• normal microscope slide and coverslip
• microscope
• toothpick
• methylene blue stain
• eosin Y stain
• paper towel

Procedure for Simple Staining

1. Transfer one drop of distilled water to the center of a slide.
2. Use a toothpick to scrape (gently) the inside of your cheek.
3. Immerse the end of the toothpick in the drop of water and stir to transfer the Epithelial cells to the water.
4. Position a coverslip over the specimen.
5. Observe the specimen under a microscope.
6. Place one drop of methylene blue stain at one edge of the coverslip.
7. Touch the corner of a paper towel to the slide at the opposite edge of the coverslip. The paper towel wicks the water from under the coverslip, drawing the drop of methylene blue stain under the coverslip.
8. Allow the stain to work for 30 seconds or so and observe the cells under a microscope.
9. Repeat steps 6 through 8 with a drop of eosin Y stain instead of methylene blue stain.
10. Observe under a microscope.

Observations

At 40x with the slide unstained I can see the cells and their nucleus without much difficulty.

At 100x with the slide unstained I can see the nucleus better and also that there are things around it.

At 450x with the slide unstained I clearly see the nucleus and what could be organelles surrounding it.

Epithelial Cells at 40x Non-stained

Epithelial Cells at 100x Non-stained

Epithelial Cell at 450x Non-stained

Due to technical difficulties with the methylene blue stain being to aqueous and made with crystals not fully dissolved, I had the slide all dirty with crystals of methylene blue stain and also the stain did not seem to work. I could not see the cells a lot and could not make any observations on them. Below is a picture of the slide with the bad stain.

The red oval indicates the
 contamination of the
methylene blue stain