[Tinctorial properties of mycobacteria using standard and nontraditional staining technics]

Tinctural specificity was studied for various mycobacterial species (M. tuberculosis Erdman TMC 107, M. tuberculosis Academia, M. Bovis Bovinus-8, M. Bovis BCG Russian, M. Avium Avium-53) subjected to staining according to Ziehl-Neelsen, Boy (fluorescent staining), Gram and Romanovsky-Gimze. The cultures were studied on Pavlovsky's continuous medium under natural ageing. The authors tested adequacy of diverse bacterioscopic methods for registration of all the cells in the mycobacterial population. Mycobacterial morphological and tinctural features are shown to be dependent on the culture duration and species. Non-conventional Gram's and Romanovsky-Gimze techniques were able to identify L-form granular balls and non-acid-fast coccus-like forms. The presence and the number of mycobacterial changed forms are species-specific and related to the culture duration.