Slides and photomicrographs

Staining:

• many structures are colourless and transparent
• if transparent they will appear white
• coloured chemicals will give artifical colours to the specimen (staining)
• codes used; st,wm,cs,ls,sq,sm

How to prepare a specimen:

• fixing - cells and other elements in the specimen are preserved in a "life-like" state
• processing - water is removed from the specimen. Duration will depend on nature and size
• embedding - placed in wax-filled moulds. Cassette is placed on top of mould, with more wax.
• sectioning - cut on a "microtome". Thickness of 3-5 micrometres, single layer of cells
• staining - H&E is most common. Cell nuclei are stained blue and cytoplasm is pink with H&E.