Slide B7, Blood In Saline

This is Slide B7, a sealed wet mount slide containing a single drop of saline with a fraction of a drop of blood mixed in it. The result is a nice dispersion of live blood cells. In this video, I demonstrate how this technique actually allows one to observe live white cells, without any kind of staining, on a common light microscope. I also demonstrate high magnification oil immersion microscopy on human red blood cells, lending a kind of more universally understood (at least for me) scale of size that can help put the much tinier sized of bacteria in better perspective. Mr White Cell says, "Nom! Nom! Nom!" haha. Enjoy the show! :-)

NightRunner417

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• microscope
• amscope
• m600a
• logitech
• quickcam
• pro
• 9000
• microbiology
• white
• blood
• cell
• red
• erythrocyte
• macrophage
• oil
• immersion

[Sorcery10]

really good video! what type of microscope do you use?

[NightRunner417]

It's an AmScope M600A, has 3D mechanical stage, fully adjustable abbe condenser, spring loaded slide clamp, and magnifies from 10x to 1600x using a combination of two eyepieces and four objectives. When doing the video imaging, I don't use an eyepiece, plus size is heavily dependant on capture resolution, so the actual magnification in these videos is much higher, anywhere up to 2500x I estimate. Bear in mind there is a definite quality loss at such high magnifications.

[NightRunner417]

As for the microscope in general, I LOVE it. I still consider myself a bit spoiled when I use it, because I never had one with such features nor such high image quality. The things I saw in the first month with this thing far outshone everything I'd ever seen through a microscope before... the cilia on a small protozoan, the cells in the exoskeleton of an ant's head... countless bacteria... It's all been pretty amazing. :-)

[planetrob555]

Look at him!!! Very WOW! Our body keeping us healthy and alive! Very cool, Rick. Is the 'too high salt' due to you having to dilute the blood enough to see it in the scope? Also, how did you mix a fraction of a drop of blood? Does the device you use to do this contaminate the solution much, or do you try and kill everything on your instruments before touching your solutions? Also, BEST intro yet!!

[NightRunner417]

You know... every time I cruise past this video, I listen to that intro and wonder if I really can do any better. I *LIKEY* very much. I guess the answer is yes I can, I've only had the guitar for a short time in the scheme of things, but still... This intro has got serious "chuh" factor and will be hard to top. :-)

[planetrob555]

:)

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer questions and explain things to a iron-head such as myself.

I truly appreciate it!

[NightRunner417]

One more interesting note... I found a live white cell, two days in. I never expected that kind of longevity because earlier tests showed lysed (exploded) white cells after only a few hours. This slide did really well. :-)

[NightRunner417]

So thinning it with saline solution prevents clotting totally AND separates the cells beautifully. Ready for the high tech method I used? Touch a toothpick to a drop of blood and then touch the same toothpick to the drop of saline on the slide... DONE hahaha. I'm sure this is about as contaminated a process as is humanly possible, but surprise surprise, either the blood or saline or both has kept the slide germ free for three days so far. I think it's preservatives in the saline solution.

[NightRunner417]

The too high salt content is a bit complex an issue. The saline says it is "isotonic", which SHOULD mean it wouldn't crenate the cells, but it did anyway. That means that the saline solution is too strong. The reason I mixed it is because pure blood is VERY dense with cells. Doing it this way gives a much less dense population and makes it easier to discern different properties, plus using straight blood would have required 6 or more times the amount of blood, and there would be a big clot risk.

[planetrob555]

What I mean, I understand that saline solution has salt in it...saline..ha...but why did you mix it with the blood...to be able to see?