Motility Procedure: Hanging Drop Atlas page 35
Bacteria that possess flagella have the ability to move and thus are motile. Live wet mount/Hanging Drop preparations of a bacterial culture may be viewed under a dark field microscope under oil immersion to determine if an organism is motile.
PROCEDURE: Obtain a clean Hanging-drop slide and a Nutrient Broth. Inoculate the Nutrient Broth and incubate it overnight ONLY. Remove the Nutrient Broth from the incubator, mix and then using a sterile loop, transfer 10 "loop-fuls" of the broth to the indention in the Hanging-drop slide. Using a toothpick put four small "dabs" of Vaseline in the four corners of a coverslip and place it over the indention in the Hanging-drops slide. Add immersion oil to the top of the slide and reduce your Iris to very low light. Focus under oil immersion and look for "tumbling" behavior... NOTE: Vibrating Microbes are NOT motile... You MUST focus within 3 minutes of preparation of the slide as by 5 minutes all the microbes are NON-MOTILE as they are dead - killed from the heat produced by the light source. Confirm your Positive Hanging-drop Motility with a Stab Motility Test!