# Making a permanent slide of fecal



## OneTwentySix (Nov 11, 2004)

I'm currently taking an invertebrate biology course, and a large part of our grade comes from making a collection of inverts. I brought in some stool that I collected from a few of my quarenteen containers and wasn't surprised to find a large nemotode load. 

Now, while I'll be looking into taking corrective procedures for the frogs, I was wondering if I couldn't also use this for my project. Unfortunately, my professor wasn't really sure as to how to mount such small organisms onto a microscope slide. The procedure for animals such as mites and springtails would be to place the organism into 70% ethanol for three minutes, and then removing it and placing it into 95% for another three minutes. Afterwards, as much ethanol is removed as possible (generally placing organism onto a paper towel to dry it off). The next step would be to place the organism onto euperol (spelling?) wherein the coverslip is placed on top. Finally, the slide is placed onto a heat pad to dry for a few days.

Unfortunately, fecal parasites are too small to remove manually. I've tried placing the feces onto the slide and then euperoling the feces, but my professor wasn't sure as to how this would work since there's no alcohol used to preserve the 'sites. 

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks.


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

I’ve done cells by either flame drying them or air drying them onto the slide and then doing the alcohol baths. The aim is to soak the material that remains on the slide without washing it off.


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## OneTwentySix (Nov 11, 2004)

Thank you, I'll have to try that!


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## rozdaboff (Feb 27, 2005)

The way that fecals are prepared and stored at the vet school is much different than the way any other samples are done. With a fecal sample, especially if looking at oocysts and such, maintaing the structure is imperative. The samples are placed under a glass coverslip, and then the coverslip is "glued" onto the slide - sealing the "float" with the organisms contained within under it. They are then kept refrigerated. 

Sorry I can't provide specific details on the process, but at least it is something to springboard off of.


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