Hi again lakeerieboater,
Microscope slides are used in a variety of ways, in laboratories and
research institutions, but the uses are similar.
Glass microscope slides are indeed used for biopsies, pap smears,
and blood smears, but they are used in many more ways. Since almost
everything that needs to be examined under the microscope needs to be
placed on a slide, glass slides are extremely useful, and used in huge
quantities in most labs. Slides are also used as ?pusher? slides, to
make a good blood smear. We used to file the rough edges on the
frosted edge of another slide, to round the edge, producing wonderful
pushers. Folks got very possessive of their pusher slides, going to
great lengths to hide them from others!
Some uses are:
Blood smears: Useful in diagnosing a plethora of diseases
KOH preps: to diagnose fungal infections
Tzanck preps: to help diagnose herpes
Urine sediment: Sediment is what is left after a urine sample is
centrifuged, to identify the presence of blood, bacteria, parasites,
sperm, crystals, pus
Pap smears
Tissue preps (biopsies)
Skin scrapings
Hair
Parasites
Bacteria: Both from a wound, abscess, etc., or a culture incubated in the lab.
Bodily fluids that are placed on a glass microscope slide include:
Blood
Bone Marrow
Urine
Spinal fluid
Pleural fuid
Knee fluid
Peritoneal fluid
Amniotic fluid
Synovial fluid
Sputum
Vitreous fluid (eye)
Semen
Fluid from a boil, cyst, abcess
Nasal secretions (can distinguish a cold from allergies)
Wound drainage
Stool
Vomit (And stomach contents from a stomach pumping)
Bile
Saliva
Glass slides are also used to make what are called ?Permanent mounts?
for research and for teaching hospitals. Almost anything can be
permanently mounted with Permount, a mounting medium which is a clear
glue-like substance, then is topped by another slide or a cover slip.
(A cover slip is a very thin piece of glass that is about one third
the length of a standard microscope slide.) When dried, the slide is
good indefinitely. Slides that are not preserved in this way have a
relatively short ?shelf life?. Slides for urinalysis and routine blood
smears are not usually ?Permounted?.
You can see a picture of cover slips here: (Also called ?Cover glass?)
http://www.emsdiasum.com/microscopy/products/histology/coverglasses.aspx?mm=10
Research labs use slides in the same manner if they are biomedical
research labs. Some research labs may use slides to observe specimens
such as insects, larvae, leaves, plants, feathers, outdoor water from
ponds, lakes, etc. Other research uses would include looking at
crystals, compounds and chemicals.
Sometimes an unusual specimen, such as a parasite or skin scrapings
are pressed between two slides to transport the specimen to the lab.
Some doctors even use the slide to scrape skin to collect the skin
scrapings for examination.
There are also a few unconventional uses of glass microscope slides!
They make great scrapers for removing old tape from counters, and are
often used to prop open analyzers? small doors.
Hope this helps you understand the many uses of glass slides!
Regards,
crabcakes
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