Viewing Living Preparations Using A Bright Field Microscope

Bright field microscopes are the very first type of microscopes that are used inside laboratories and research facilities. This is why this microscope is very functional on virtually all types of applications, including the viewing of living preparations. Learn how it is done through the article below.

Over the years, bright field microscopes had spanned a thousand of uses. These microscopes can be seen in a variety of fields, from healthcare to industrial applications. But the foremost use of these microscopes would be in viewing living preparations. Living preparations include cells and other minute organisms. In fact, this application is the primary demand for this type of microscope, ever since it was developed.

Viewing living preparations implies that the specimens should be imaged in real time. Otherwise, the possibility of the samples dying while under observation is very high. It is therefore important that the organisms that are subjected under the lens of the bright field microscope are maintained in an environment similar to its natural habitat. This is the only way to nurture the sample.

A good development in bright field microscopy is the invention of a certain chamber where samples, like tissues and cells, be placed so that they can be supported outside their innate living conditions. This way, the researcher can proceed to analyze, view, and study the samples without the need to be concerned with their condition.

Bright field microscopes, even if they follow the simplest and the earliest principles of microscopy, still prove to be very useful in this particular application. And because some of its models are rather inexpensive, it adds to the fact that they are the most widely used microscopes today. Bright field microscopes can be seen inside classrooms to aid students in their biology class. It is in the study of biology where students are introduced to the building blocks of life, the cells.

Bright field microscopy uses the available light from the environment to be used as a source of the sample’s illumination. These microscopes may be equipped with a built-in lighting system for this particular purpose. But there are a lot of those that uses an external lighting system. Some are even equipped with a mirror so it can reflect the light of the room into the specimen towards the objectives up until it reaches the eyepieces. This is the bright field microscopy principle, explained in its simplest form.

It has been an issue indicating that transparent or colorless cells or microorganisms cannot be viewed adequately with the use of a mere bright field microscope. Much of this rooted from the fact that colorless samples cannot be seen under the traditional light used by the microscope. When transparent living cells are placed under the lenses of a bright field microscope, nothing can be seen in the eyepiece’s view field. This is because the light the microscope collects merely passes through the sample’s body without making much of an impression on it.

A solution was presented to this. Researchers started to use chemical dyes on their samples so that previously colorless specimens become tinted. The chemical dyes that are most commonly used are Methylene Blue, Eosin, and Crystal Violet, among many others. After applying a drop of these stains on the living sample, the said samples can then be seen successfully through the device.

Yet, the issue still remains. Some experts say that staining the specimen may cause some changes in the living sample’s body form and processes. While these ideas are not totally proven yet, a lot of professionals still use bright field microscopes for viewing living preparations. Bright field microscopes have been the accepted tools to perform these applications.

But with the advancement of technology, together with the challenge to solve the issues surrounding bright field microscopy, a lot of other types of microscopes have been developed. The forerunner of bright field microscopes would be the dark field microscope. This microscope is said to be the solution for the issue of needing to stain colorless samples before they can be inspected. In a dark field microscope, the view field has a black background and the specimen appears lighted. The images produced by the dark field microscope are the inverted, or in this case, the negative side of the images produced by a bright field microscope.

There are a lot of other microscopes developed other than bright field microscopes. There are phase contrast microscopes, electron beam microscopes, and a whole range of other complex microscopes. However, the main difference between these devices would be the light source, or the manipulation of it for that matter, that is used to make the sample viewable under the lenses.