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. 1986 Mar;51(3):664–667. doi: 10.1128/aem.51.3.664-667.1986

Comparison of Acridine Orange, Acriflavine, and Bisbenzimide Stains for Enumeration of Bacteria in Clear and Humic Waters

Irina Bergström 1, Anne Heinänen 1, Kalevi Salonen 1,*
PMCID: PMC238937  PMID: 16347028

Abstract

In highly humic water, acridine orange precipitated with dissolved humic matter, resulting in such bright background fluorescence that no bacteria could be seen. With bisbenzimide staining, a similar precipitate was nonfluorescent but obscured many cells. An acriflavine staining method proved useful and reproducible both in clear and in humic waters. Fading of fluorescence was not a problem, and stained samples could be stored after preparation. The fluorescence of cells stained with acriflavine was weaker than that with acridine orange, making counting extremely small cells slightly more difficult with the former stain.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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