Refinements of and commentary on the silver staining techniques of Fernández-Galiano

Abstract

The original ammoniacal silver carbonate staining technique and subsequent modification developed by Fernández-Galiano are useful for investigating ciliate protozoan systematics and/or ciliate cortical structure and morphogenesis. The technique is complicated, however, by both uncertainties arising from the need to count drops of reagents and subjective control of the staining intensity. I have resolved these complications by defining volumes of reagents rather than using drops and by defining a range of staining times. I also comment on various steps of the techniques. My techniques are simplified and refined to produce consistent, high quality staining results.

Key words::

• ciliates
• cortical structures
• Fernández-Galiano staining, Paramecium
• protozoa
• silver staining

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to the many undergraduate students who have worked in my laboratory and have assisted in the development of the refinements of the protocols described. I also thank Drs. Christopher Janetopoulos and Stanislav Vitha for their help with and suggestions for this report. Portions of this study were supported by NIH grants AG02657 and GM34681.

Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of this paper.