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The cell walls of some bacteria eg mycobacteria contain mycolic acids giving the cell walls a high lipid content. To view these cells in samples staining requires higher concentrations of the dye solution and/or a heating period. However, once a stain is introduced into the cell wall, removing it with a decolorising is even more difficult. The expression "acid fast" is derived from the observation that even with the addition of hydrochloric acid to the alcohol decoloriser, some of the stained cells retain the primary stain (carbolfuchsin).

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8y ago
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9y ago

Acid fast refers to microorganisms whose cell wall has a high lipid content of mycolic acids and long chain fatty acids. The wall is said to be thicker.

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Q: What physical component of the bacterial cells enables acid-fast staining to work?
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