I've only seen blood agar used for this kind of testing. Is there a reason for that or are medias like TSA acceptable? This is kind of important as blood agar has such a short shelf life, and I'd like to keep from making up a new material spec and risk either running out of them or having to waste money by tossing out unused plates.
I've also observed it being incubated at 30 degrees. Is a slightly higher range around 35 acceptable or is 30 ideal for such organisms?
Last question, how much exposure to oxygen could these organisms handle as I work on the sampling and testing process? I imagine these tend to be spore formers, so they'd manage just fine, but thought I'd ask.
It would be useful to know what particular anaerobic organisms you would like to test and what sort of testing you wish to do. The appropriate medium (with any necessary additives) will depend on the organism. Incubation temperature is also dependent on the organism. For example, anaerobic organisms found in the human gut are incubated at 35, but organisms found in nature would be incubated around 25. W/r/t oxygen exposure, again, depends on the organism. Most anaerobes can withstand brief (no more than 30 minutes) exposure to oxygen. More fastidious organisms must be worked with in an anaerobic chamber.
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I'll shoot you off an email personally, but for future readers I'll answer your questions.
Bascially I'll be looking for any anaerobic organisms period. This would be part of a quality assurance program in an aseptic manufacturing company. We will be packaging in a nitrogen atmosphere since the material doesn't like oxygen, so we want to make sure no anaerobic bugs make their way into the product. So we want to be as non-selective and general as possible in our testing.
I totally agree with Candace Krepel. You need to consider many factores, in other words a good experimental design.
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Blood agar will allow pathogens to grow, therefore you need to conduct this study very carefully (not to expose anyone to harmful bacteria, etc.). Look for Fluid thioglycollate media to distinguish aerobic and anearobic growth.
@Semsi: What you say is partially true, but does not address the original question. Thio broth only supports the growth of some anaerobes.
Best media to grow anaerobes in medical microbiology is Brucella blood agar from BD.
You need to have anaerobic environment either an anaerobic cabinet or jars with gas generator. we cultivate anaerobes at 35-36°C. The problem is to prevent oxygen in the media. You may not prepare plates for several days. An option is prepare your Brucella agar in 100 ml flasks. keep them in the refrigerator up to one month.When you need them melt the flask in boiling water for ten minutes then cool to 55°C add the blood and pour your plates that you use in the same day. When they are inoculated place them within 15 minutes in anaerobic atmosphere
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