Prepared slides, as the name implies, refers to specimens that have already been mounted onto slides, stained, covered with a cover slip, sealed in, and labeled. These prepared slides are ready for use, and all you need in your laboratory or classroom is a compound microscope. Professors use prepared slides regularly in order to first, demonstrate certain principles or showcase certain important organs or cells to their classes; and second, save on the strain of having first-time laboratory or microscope users section and stain their own specimens. Sectioning and staining of specimens for mounting onto slides, moreover, is a time consuming process that can be expensive it has to be done every day.
Prepared slides are also used by laboratories as standards on which to base their recent work. Because quality of prepared slides is very well controlled, the cells or organs being shown on prepared slides are a sort of gold standard; laboratory scientists can consult these slides and see if their laboratory work is satisfactory enough, and if there are any deviations in the specimens that they are preparing. These deviations may be tears or deformations in cellular parts, the presence of unidentified stained bodies, or the absence of whole cellular organelles or characteristic configurations in certain organs. These deviations may be signs of infection, cell malignancy, or simply a morphological or physiological problem in the specimen being examined.
Buying Only the Best Prepared Slides
If you are interested in buying prepared slides, you will need to know exactly what slides your laboratory will need. This is because you can buy prepared slides individually, or in a set that is placed in a box for safekeeping. Obviously, individual slides will cost more than they would if you bought them as part of a set. You will therefore need to balance your budget in terms of whether to get only a few individual slides that you really need, or to get a cheaper set of many slides, some of which you might not need at all.
You also need to know what prepared slides you need. Do you need cross sections of organs, or do you need bacterial mounts? Cells are almost transparent when viewed under the microscope, and they need to be stained in order to be seen. What kind of stain should your samples have? Should they be stained only to identify the presence of cells, or should they be stained using a differential staining procedure – that is, should they be stained so that you can differentiate among different cell types or cell parts, or among different microorganisms?
Using and Caring for Your Prepared Slides
Once you have made your decision and purchased your slides, you will need to keep your slides safe. If you buy a set of slides, make sure that they are always stored in their protective box. This is especially true of mounted sections of animal or plant parts, as well as stained smears of bacteria and other microorganisms. Leaving these slides outside their box can expose them to damage by breakage. Prepared slides are also labeled according to the specimen or plant or animal part that they are showing, and how the sectioning was carried out (such as longitudinal vs. cross section). These labels can be erased easily by wear, tear, and exposure.
When using your slides, clip them under the slide clips that come with the stage of your compound microscope. These clips will hold them in place, so that if you have to tilt the microscope, you will not have to worry about the slide falling off. Moreover, when using your prepared slides, make sure that the edges of your objectives do not touch the cover slip: by forcing the objective firmly onto the top of the cover slip, you can break the cover slip and damage the mounted specimen; or you can cause fractures in the cover slip, at the very least, which can make later viewing and use of the slide much more difficult.
These are only a few tips that you might want to follow as you scan the market for prepared slides, and as you buy the slides and use them in your laboratory. For more information on what slides you should purchase for your laboratory or classroom, consult with your fellow researchers or faculty members, and work out your budget so that you make no unnecessary purchases. As long as you take care of your slides and do not abuse them, and as long as you store them well, you can have your slides for a much longer time.
