We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

LabMedica

Download Mobile App
Recent News Expo
ADLM 2025
Clinical Chem. Molecular Diagnostics Hematology Immunology Microbiology Pathology Technology Industry Focus

Transport Medium Evaluated for Gut Bacterium

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 30 Jan 2012
An alternative transport medium supplemented with a cyanobacterial extract (CE) has been evaluated for the preservation and viability of Helicobacter pylori strains.

The transport medium was free of animal derivatives, and was compared with other media during long-term transportation and the recovery of H. pylori from biopsy samples.

Microbiologists at the Universidad Nacional de San Luis (Argentina), collected four gastric antral biopsy specimens from 134 patients with gastroduodenal disease and were positive H. pylori infection. The transport media were based on an agar soft medium prepared with Mueller–Hinton broth 0.3% agar (MH) and 0.3% of CE (MH-CE). MH 5% fetal calf serum (FCS) was used as the reference medium (MH-FCS). Two gastric biopsy samples were placed into MH-CE or MH-FCS transport media and stored at 4 °C and at room temperature. Another biopsy sample was used for the urease test and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) identification. The remainder of the biopsy specimen was Gram stained. The diagnosis of H. pylori infection was established when two of three diagnostic methods, urease test, Gram or culture) were positive, followed by confirmation with PCR.

The recovery rate of H. pylori at 4 °C was similar among MH-CE and MH-FCS transport media between 24 to 72 hours, whereas a higher recovery was obtained with MH-CE after 96 and 120 hours. Only MH-CE allowed recovery after 120 hours. The H. pylori recovery at room temperature after 96 hour was higher in MH-CE than in MH-FCS. Similar survival rates were observed in biopsy samples conserved in MH-CE and MH-FCS at 4 °C. The recovery after 48 hours at room temperature in MH-CE was higher than MH-FCS and was the only medium allowing recovery after 72 hours. The viability of H. pylori strains stored within agar plugs in transport media and from biopsy specimens was assessed by viable count determinations (colony-forming units) on Mueller–Hinton agar supplemented with 7% horse blood (MHA-B) and direct fluorescence microscopy with the LIVE/DEAD BacLight Bacterial Viability Kit (Invitrogen Corporation, Eugene, OR, USA).

The authors concluded that MH-CE could be used as a transport medium to minimize the loss of bacterial viability when immediate culture or cool shipping is not possible. The transport medium proposed is simple to handle, inexpensive and complies with the present tendency of avoiding the use of animal derivatives. The study was published in the February 2012 edition of the European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

Related Links:
Universidad Nacional de San Luis
Invitrogen Corporation


Gold Member
Flocked Fiber Swabs
Puritan® Patented HydraFlock®
Serological Pipet Controller
PIPETBOY GENIUS
New
Gold Member
Cardiovascular Risk Test
Metabolic Syndrome Array I & II
New
Gold Member
Hematology Analyzer
Medonic M32B

Latest Microbiology News

New Platform Leverages AI and Quantum Computing to Predict Salmonella Antimicrobial Resistance
30 Jan 2012  |   Microbiology

Early Detection of Gut Microbiota Metabolite Linked to Atherosclerosis Could Revolutionize Diagnosis
30 Jan 2012  |   Microbiology

Viral Load Tests Can Help Predict Mpox Severity
30 Jan 2012  |   Microbiology



PURITAN MEDICAL