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Types of culture media used in microbiology

Media are of different types on consistency and (4) Indicator media, (5) Transport media, and (6)
chemical composition. Storage media.

1. BASAL MEDIA. Basal media are those that

may be used for growth (culture) of bacteria that
do not need enrichment of the media. Examples:
Nutrient broth, nutrient agar and peptone water.
Staphylococcus and Enterobacteriaceae grow in
these media.

2. ENRICHED MEDIA. The media are enriched

usually by adding blood, serum or egg.
Examples: Enriched media are blood agar and
Lowenstein-Jensen media. Streptococci grow in
blood agar media.

3. SELECTIVE MEDIA. These media favour the

growth of a particular bacterium by inhibiting the
A. On Consistency: growth of undesired bacteria and allowing growth
1. Solid Media. Advantages of solid media: (a) of desirable bacteria. Examples: MacConkey
Bacteria may be identified by studying the colony agar, Lowenstein-Jensen media, tellurite media
character, (b) Mixed bacteria can be separated. (Tellurite inhibits the growth of most of the throat
Solid media is used for the isolation of bacteria organisms except diphtheria bacilli). Antibiotic
as pure culture. 'Agar' is most commonly used to may be added to a medium for inhibition.
prepare solid media. Agar is polysaccharide
extract obtained from seaweed. Agar is an ideal 4. INDICATOR (DIFFERENTIAL) MEDIA. An
solidifying agent as it is : (a) Bacteriologically indicator is included in the medium. A particular
inert, i.e. no influence on bacterial growth, (b) It organism causes change in the indicator, e.g.
remains solid at 37°C, and (c) It is transparent. blood, neutral red, tellurite. Examples: Blood agar
2. Liquid Media. It is used for profuse growth, and MacConkey agar are indicator media.
e.g. blood culture in liquid media. Mixed
organisms cannot be separated. 5. TRANSPORT MEDIA. These media are used
when specie-men cannot be cultured soon after
B. On Chemical Composition : collection. Examples: Cary-Blair medium, Amies
1. Routine Laboratory Media medium, Stuart medium.
2. Synthetic Media. These are chemically
defined media prepared from pure chemical 6. STORAGE MEDIA. Media used for storing
substances. It is used in research work. the bacteria for a long period of time. Examples:
ROUTINE LABORATORY MEDIA Egg saline medium, chalk cooked meat broth
These are classified into six types: (1) Basal
media, (2) Enriched media, (3) Selective media,

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COMMON MEDIA IN ROUTINE USE fermented, i.e. the bacterium is non-lactose

Nutrient Broth. 500 g meat, e.g. ox heart is fermenter, e.g. Salmonella. Shigella, Vibrio.
minced and mixed with 1 litre water. 10 g
peptone and 5 g sodium chloride are added, pH Mueller Hinton Agar. Disc diffusion sensitivity
is adjusted to 7.3. Uses: (1) As a basal media for tests for antimicrobial drugs should be carried out
the preparation of other media, (2) To study on this media as per WHO recommendation to
soluble products of bacteria. promote reproducibility and comparability of
results.
Nutrient Agar. It is solid at 37°C. 2.5% agar is
added in nutrient broth. It is heated at 100°C to Hiss's Serum Water Medium. This medium is
melt the agar and then cooled. used to study the fermentation reactions of
bacteria which can not grow in peptone water
Peptone Water. Peptone 1% and sodium sugar media, e.g. pneumococcus, Neisseria,
chloride 0.5%. It is used as base for sugar media Corynebacterium.
and to test indole formation.
Lowenstein-Jensen Medium. It is used to
Blood Agar. Most commonly used medium. 5- culture tubercle bacilli. It contains egg, malachite
10% defibrinated sheep or horse blood is added green and glycerol. (1) Egg is an enrichment
to melted agar at 45-50°C. Blood acts as an material which stimulates the growth of tubercle
enrichment material and also as an indicator. bacilli, (2) Malachite green inhibits growth of
Certain bacteria when grown in blood agar organisms other than mycobacteria, (3) Glycerol
produce haemolysis around their colonies. promotes the growth of Mycobacterium
Certain bacteria produce no haemolysis. Types tuberculosis but not Mycobacterium bovis.
of changes : (a) beta (p) haemolysis. The colony
is surrounded by a clear zone of complete
haemolysis, e.g. Streptococcus pyogenes is a
beta haemolytic streptococci, (b) Alpha (a)
haemolysis. The colony is surrounded by a zone
of greenish discolouration due to formation of
biliverdin, e.g. Viridans streptococci, (c) Gamma
(y) haemolysis, or, No haemolysis. There is no
change in the medium surrounding the colony,

Chocolate Agar or Heated Blood agar:

Prepared by heating blood agar. It is used for
culture of pneumococcus, gonococcus, meningo-
coccus and Haemophilus. Heating the blood
inactivates inhibitor of growths. Dubos Medium. This liquid medium is used for
tubercle bacilli. In this medium drug sensitivity of
MacConkey Agar. Most commonly used for tubercle bacilli can be carried out. It contains
enterobac­teriaceae. It contains agar, peptone, 'tween 80', bovine serum albumin, casein
sodium chloride, bile salt, lactose and neutral hydrolysate, asparagin and salts. Tween 80
red. It is a selective and indicator medium : causes dispersed growth and bovine albumin
causes rapid growth.
(1) Selective as bile salt does not inhibit the
growth of enterobactericeae but inhibits growth of Loeffler Serum. Serum is used for enrichment.
many other bacteria. Diphtheria bacilli grow in this medium in 6 hours
when the secondary bacteria do not grow. It is
(2) Indicator medium as the colonies of bacteria used for rapid diagnosis of diphtheria and to
that ferment lactose take a pink colour due to demonstrate volutin granules. It contains sheep,
production of acid. Acid turns the indicator ox or horse serum.
neutral red to pink. These bacteria are called Tellurite Blood Agar. It is used as a selective
'lactose fermenter', e.g. Escherichia coll. medium for isolation of Cotynebacterium
Colourless colony indicates that lactose is not diphtheriae. Tellurite inhibits the growth of most

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secondary bacteria without an inhibitory effect on

diphtheria bacilli. It is also an indicator medium Charcoal-yeast agar. Used for Legionella
as the diphtheria bacilli produce black colonies. pneumophila. Increased concentration of iron and
Tellurite metabolized to tellbrism, which has cysteine allows growth.
black colour.
Tellurite-Gelatin Agar Medium (TGAM). It may
EMB (Eosin-methylene blue) Agar. A selective be used as transport, selective and indicator
and differential medium for enteric Gram- medium.
negative rods. Lactose-fermenting colonies are
coloured and nonlactose-fermenting colonies are Campylobacter Medium. This selective medium
nonpigmented. Selects against gram positive is used to isolate Campylobacter jejuni and
bacteria. Campylobacter coli from stool.

XLD (Xylose Lysine Deoxychoiate). It is used Cary-Blair Medium. It is used as a transport

to isolate Salmonella and Shigella species from medium for faeces that may contain Salmonella,
stool specimens. This is a selective media. Shigella, Vibrio or Cam­pylobacter species.

SS (Salmonella-Shigella) Agar. It is a selective Amies medium is used for gonococci and other
medium used to isolate Salmonella and Shigella pathogens.
species. SS Agar with additional bile salt is used
if Yersinia enterocolitica is suspected. Peptone Water Sugar Media. These indicator
media are used to study 'Sugar fermentation'. 1
DCA (Desoxycholate Citrate Agar). It is used % solution of a sugar (lactose, glucose, mannitol
for isolation of Salmonella and Shigella. The etc) is added to peptone water containing
other enteric bacteria are mostly inhibited (a Andrade's indicator in a test tube. A small
selective medium). It is also a differential inverted Durham tube is placed in the medium.
(indicator) medium due to presence of lactose The media are colourless. After culture, change
and neutral red. of a medium to red colour indicates acid
production. Gas, if produced collects in Durham
Tetrathionate Broth. This medium is used for tube.
isolating Salmonella from stool. It acts as a
selective medium. It inhibits normal intestinal Motility Indole Urea (MIU) Medium. This is used
bacteria and permits multiplication of Salmonella. to differentiate enterobacteria species by their
motility, urease, and indole reactions.
Selenite F Broth. Uses and functions are same
as that of tetrathionate broth. KIA (Kligler Iron Agar). This is a differential
slope medium used in the identification of enteric
bacteria. The reactions are based on the
fermentation of lactose and glucose and the
production of hydrogen sulphide.

Christensen's Urea Medium. This is used to

identify urea splitting organisms, e.g. Proteus. A
purple pink colour indicates urea splitting.

Bordet-Gengou Medium. This medium is used

for culture of Bordetella pertussis. Increased
concentration of blood allows growth. It contains
agar, potato, sodium chloride, glycerol, peptone
and 50% horse blood. Penicillin may be added to
Thiosulphate-Citrate-Bile-Sucrose (TCBS) it.
Agar. TCBS agar is a selective medium used to
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