What are mordants in staining?

A mordant is a chemical that fixes or intensifies a dye or stain. In fabric dyeing, a mordant forms a coordination complex with the dye, helping the dye attach to the fabric. Mordants also intensify stains in microbiological slides or tissue preparations.

What is the mordant in Endospore staining?

Malachite green can be left on the slide for 15 minutes or more to stain the spores. It takes a long time for the spores to stain due to their density, so heat acts as the mordant when performing this differential stain.

What is mordant in textile?

A mordant is thus a chemical agent which allows a reaction to occur between the dye and the fabric. In textiles, mordants are used to fix the color in dyeing or fabric printing, especially for fabrics of plant origin (cotton).

What is a mordant in biology?

In microbiology, a mordant is a compound used to hold down molecules of a stain onto a microorganism. Classically defined, mordants are usually ions such as metal ions or halide ions, but can be any molecule that serves the purpose of holding down a dye.

What is the mordant in Endospore staining quizlet?

spore stain- use malachite green distinguish between metabolically active cells and dormant structures. gram stain- differentiates cells based on thickness of peptidoglycan layer, result in purple and pink cells , a chemical is used as a mordant.

What is a flagella stain?

The flagella stain allows observation of bacterial flagella under the light microscope. Bacterial flagella are normally too thin to be seen under such conditions. The flagella stains employs a mordant to coat the flagella with stain until they are thick enough to be seen. Flagella can vary by number and location.

What is mordant in biology?

A mordant or dye fixative is a substance used to bind dyes on tissues by forming a coordination complex with the dye, which then attaches to the tissue. It may be used for intensifying stains in cell or tissue preparations.