Sabouraud Dextrose Agar , 250g

Description: 

This modification of Sabouraud agar (Carlier1) is suitable for the cultivation and differentiation of fungi. 

Carlier showed that the medium gives reliable results with Microsporum audouini, Microsporum canis, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton flavum, Trichophyton rubrum and Candida albicans. Sabouraud Dextrose Agar may be used in place of the Standard American medium of Hodges 2. The fungi maintain their typical cultural appearance and thus may be readily identified according to t he standard macroscopic characters described by Sabouraud3. 

The medium is often used with antibiotics for the isolation of pathogenic fungi from material containing large numbers of other fungi or bacteria. Georg et al.4 aseptically added 0.5g cycloheximide, 20,000 units penicillin and 40,000 units streptomycin to each litre of autoclaved, cooled medium.

Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus fumigatus and Allescheria boydii are sensitive to cycloheximide; Actinomyces bovis and Nocardia asteroides are sensitive to penicillin and streptomycin.Alternatively, one may add 0.4g chloramphenicol and 0.05g cycloheximide to each litre of reconstituted medium before autoclaving (Ajello 5). The same micro-organisms are sensitive to this new combination - see Dermasel Selective Supplement SR0075. 

Williams Smith & Jones6 employed Oxoid Sabouraud Dextrose Agar, containing 20,000 units penicillin and 0.04g neomycin per litre, for the count of yeasts in the alimentary tract of the pig. Hantschke7 used colistin, novobiocin and c ycloheximide to isolate Candida albicans. Dolan8 used gentamicin, chloramphenicol and cycloheximide for the selective isolation of pathogenic fungi. 

Oxoid Sabouraud Dextrose Agar may also be used as the basis of a Pagano-Levin medium9 for the isolation of Candida albicans. 0.1g of triphenyltetrazolium chloride (as a filter sterilised solution) is added to each litre of autoclaved molten medium cooled to 55°C. The medium is usually made inhibitory to most non-pathogenic fungi and bacteria by the addition of antibiotics as above.

After incubation for 3 days at 25°C, Candida albicans colonies are unpigmented or pale pink whilst other Candida species and other fungi form deeper pink or red colonies. The test is adequate for screening purposes but other diagnostic criteria should also be utilised for the identification of Candida albicans10,11,12,13. The quality control of Oxoid Sabouraud Dextrose Agar includes testing in accordance with ISO:11133 201414. 

Specification: 

250g