Hi!

I have a very simple "novice-with-anaerobic-culture" question. I want to pre-pour my anaerobic plates to be used over two weeks. I usually keep aerobic pre-poured plates in the walk-in fridge, but of course, the anaerobic chamber has an incubator inside, not a fridge. I know I have to let my plates degass for a few hours/overnight in the chamber before inoculating. And that pouring my plates inside the chamber would create too much humidity. The question is, do I keep them like regular plates in the fridge? If I do, won't the l-cysteine and/or sodium thioglycollate use all of their redox potential while waiting in a normal fride for up to two weeks? But if the plates degass in the chamber, does it even matter? If it doesn't, then why add a redox agent at all?

Clearly, there is something I am missing here.

I will be working with mamalian stool samples (strict anaerobes from the gut microbiota). I'll be working on solid agar plates, not Hugate tubes, to do culturomics.

Thanks for any and all input you can offer!

Günes