Growing Adherent Cells for Staining

Adherent cells are easily prepared for cell staining by growing on a suitable microscope slide, coverslip, or plastic tissue culture dish. For high-resolution studies, adherent cells should be grown on the highest available grade glass coverslips, because the controlled thickness, flatness, and good optical properties of a proper coverslip are required to produce the best images. In addition, the glass surface is compatible with all fixing and staining solutions. If many antibodies, different dilutions, or various controls are to be tested on the same cell type, plating the cells onto multiwell slides can be helpful. For low-resolution work, such as crude antigen detection, hybridoma screening, or antibody titration, cells for staining can be grown on regular tissue culture dishes.