DESCRIPTION

Wescor's Gram staining technology is trusted in labs around the world. No other stainer offers the dependable and accurate results combined with the full cytocentrifuge capability of the Aerospray. The automated features of the Gram Stainer bring quick, excellent, and standardized results to the variable and labor-intensive world of gram staining. In the Aerospray Gram stainer, fresh reagent is applied as an atomized spray on slides mounted in a rotating carousel. Specimens contact only fresh stain, precisely metered from separate spray nozzles. No cross-contamination occurs and accuracy is assured. The Aerospray Gram Stainer is a skinflint when it comes to reagent consumption. Every Aerospray is also a fully capable cytocentrifuge with the purchase of the optional Cytopro® rotor. Programmability for 2, 4, or 6 slides significantly reduces the volume of reagents required for staining partial loads and thereby significantly lowering reagent cost. With cycle times as short as 5 minutes, the Aerospray Gram Stainer can process more than 120 slides per hour. No more waiting for slides to dry-they're already dry and ready to view when the staining cycle ends. Simply select from 6 different decolorizer settings and start the stain cycle. That's all you have to do because the Aerospray Gram Stainer takes over from there, precisely controlling all phases of the stain cycle with consistent reproducibility. For the cost of the optional Cytopro rotor, the Aerospray Gram Stainer becomes a superb cytocentrifuge with eight-slide capacity and keyboard programmability at a fraction of the cost of purchasing a stand-alone cytocentrifuge. The Aerospray Gram stainer stains microscope slides smeared with materials containing microorganisms such as culture materials, body fluids, or exudates. Wescor Gram reagents are tailored to give superb results in the Aerospray Gram stainer, i.e., a clean field, in which the gram-positive organisms are blue-to-black and gram-negative organisms are red. Reagents are applied from atomizing spray nozzles onto microscope slides containing the specimens. Staining is rapid and precise. Specimens contact only fresh stain, avoiding specimen cross-contamination or contact with contaminated reagents.  Specimens can be heat fixed and stained directly, or the automatic fixation feature on the Areospray Gram stainer can be used to provide a convenient and reproducible specimen fixation. Once slides are fixed, they are sprayed with crystal violet, a positively charged (basic) dye that rapidly penetrates microbial cells and stains them dark blue-to-black. The excess stain is then spun off and washed away with de-ionized water to prevent precipitate formation outside stained cells. Iodine reagent is then sprayed onto the slide. The iodine penetrates the cells and forms a precipitate (mordant) with the crystal violet dye. Excess iodine is spun off and rinsed from the slide with de-ionized water. Decolorizer is then applied to remove the crystal violet-iodine complex until only the gram-negative organisms are decolorized. Safranin (contained in the decolorizer) simultaneously counter-stains the gram-negative cells red. Decolorization is the critical step in proper Gram differentiation and unless properly controlled can lead to errors. The Aerospray Gram stainer provides a choice of decolorizer cycles ranging from 1 to 6, allowing you to compensate for thick specimens, or other possible variables. With the Wescor Aerospray Gram stainer, you can reproducibly differentiate sensitive organisms in normal smears.With its rapid staining cycle and high throughput capability, the Aerospray Gram Stainer is a convenient, cost effective way to increase Gram Staining capacity.