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Microchemical Stains Introduction
At Various stages of growth microorganisms accumulate various compounds. The role of some of the deposites is clearly understood, while for others it is still obscure. Staining techniques are now available to detect these substances. The stains described in this chapter are more complex than simple stains.

They are formulated to detect specific cell components like glycogen, lipid, polysaccharide, polyphosphates etc. Some of the stains are just little more than crude histochemical tests. We wish to describe here only those method which are routine in microbiology. The specialized staining techniques are beyond the scope of the present chapter and for more information the reader may refer to standard books on histochemistry