Equipment
The Leishman stain is corrosive and will stain skin upon contact, use with caution. The lancet can only be used once so do not attempt to use again, the prick should be made on the tip of the finger to prevent too much blood loss. Wear safety glasses when doing the experiment.
Method
- Single use lancet
- Leishman stain
- Slide, coverslip
- Light microscope
- pH buffer solution
The Leishman stain is corrosive and will stain skin upon contact, use with caution. The lancet can only be used once so do not attempt to use again, the prick should be made on the tip of the finger to prevent too much blood loss. Wear safety glasses when doing the experiment.
Method
- Prick finger with the lancet and smear blood onto a slide.
- Further smear blood with another slide so that it is only one cell thick.
- Put two drops of Leishman stain onto the blood smear, this highlights the leucocytes within the bloodsmear.
- Dry blood with filter paper and apply buffer solution, place cover slip over.
- Examine slide under microscope.
The leucocytes are clearly visible within the blood smear, they are highlighted dark blue. To differentiate between different leucocytes the nuclei need to be visible, and so it is not possible to tell what leucocytes are present within the pictures.