Types of culture media used in microbiology labs
Now here are some basic microbiology information, the culture media and its intended use. You see a microbiology laboratory cannot function without its core ingredient, media. Everything in microbiology is about growing microscopic organims and therefore knowledge of its growth media is critical. That is the composition of a culture medium formulation determines its purpose.
Preservation medium
A preservation culture medium preserves and maintain the viability of microorganisms over an extended period. During long-term storage the preservation medium protects microorganisms against the adverse influences (e.g. Dorset egg medium).
Resuscitation medium
A resuscitation medium is a non selective nutrient rich medium enabling stressed and damaged microorganisms to repair and to recover their capacity for normal growth (e.g.Tryptic soya agar with 0.3 % yeast extract or Tryptic soy broth).
Enrichment medium
A liquid culture medium provides nutrients for multiplication of microorganisms (e.g. Buffered peptone water or Nutrient broth).
Fermentation medium
A liquid culture medium formulated to achieve the nutrients for an optimal yield of a specific microorganisms (e.g. Yeast) or metabolism product (e.g. toxin).
Selective enrichment medium
A selective enrichment medium is formulated to support the multiplication of target microorganism or a group of microorganisms whilst partially or totally inhibiting the growth of accompanying interfering organisms (e.g. Muller-Kauffmann Tetrathionate broth with novobiocin or L-PALCAM broth).
Isolation medium
A solid culture medium which supports the growth of microorganisms (e.g. Plate Count Agar).
Selective isolation medium
A selective isolation medium which supports the growth of specific target microorganisms, whilst inhibiting other interfering microorganisms (e.g. PALCAM agar or MacConkey agar).
Differential medium
A culture medium which permits the testing of one or more physiological/biochemical characteristics of a microorganisms for their identification (e.g. Fluorocult LMX broth or Simmons Citrate Agar).
Identification medium
A culture medium designed to produce a specific identification reaction which does not require any further confirmatory test (e.g.Triple Sugar (TSI ) Agar).
General-purpose media
Some culture media may be assigned to several categories. Blood Agar, for example can be used as a resuscitation medium, as isolation medium or as a differential medium for the detection of haemolysis.
