Columbia 5% Sheep Blood Agar Plate | MP144-20PT | Himedia

Description

Specifications Table

Product Description

Columbia 5% Sheep Blood Agar Plate | MP144-20PT | Himedia is a ready-to-use enriched microbiological culture medium designed for the cultivation, isolation, and preliminary differentiation of a broad range of microorganisms, including fastidious bacteria. Columbia Agar is a nutrient-rich basal medium that, when supplemented with 5% sheep blood, provides enhanced growth conditions while allowing laboratories to observe characteristic colony morphology and hemolytic reactions.

The Columbia Agar base contains a balanced combination of peptones and other nutritional components that support the recovery of microorganisms with different nutritional requirements. The addition of 5% sheep blood further enriches the medium and provides growth factors required by many demanding organisms. This makes Columbia Blood Agar a useful medium for routine microbiological culture and isolation procedures.

The presence of sheep blood also allows the observation of hemolysis around microbial colonies. Depending on the organism, colonies may exhibit alpha, beta, or gamma hemolytic reactions. These visual characteristics can provide useful preliminary information during microbial screening and differentiation. However, hemolysis alone is not sufficient for definitive organism identification and should be evaluated together with appropriate biochemical, microscopic, molecular, or other validated tests.

The MP144-20PT format is supplied as a ready-to-use prepared plate, eliminating the need for laboratories to prepare the agar base, sterilize the medium, add blood, and pour individual plates. This convenient format can help reduce preparation time and support consistency across routine microbiological testing. It is particularly useful for laboratories that require prepared enriched media for regular microbial culture and isolation workflows.

Columbia 5% Sheep Blood Agar Plates can be used in clinical microbiology, pharmaceutical microbiology, food microbiology, research, educational laboratories, and other microbiological applications. The enriched formulation can support the recovery of a wide range of microorganisms, including organisms that may require additional nutritional factors for reliable growth.

The prepared plate format can also improve laboratory efficiency by simplifying media handling and reducing the number of preparation steps performed in-house. Laboratories can directly inoculate the plates using appropriate aseptic techniques and proceed with incubation according to their validated testing procedures and the manufacturer’s recommendations.

For dependable results, the plates should be stored under the recommended conditions and protected from contamination or unnecessary exposure to environmental conditions. Inoculation, incubation, examination, interpretation, and disposal should be performed according to the applicable laboratory method. Appropriate controls should be incorporated whenever required by the testing procedure.

Overall, the Himedia Columbia 5% Sheep Blood Agar Plate provides a convenient enriched culture medium for microbial recovery and isolation, while the sheep blood component supports the observation of hemolytic reactions and other colony characteristics that can assist in preliminary microbiological differentiation.

FAQs

1. What is Columbia 5% Sheep Blood Agar used for?

Columbia 5% Sheep Blood Agar is used for the cultivation and isolation of a broad range of microorganisms, including fastidious bacteria. It is also useful for observing colony morphology and hemolytic reactions during preliminary microbial differentiation.

2. Why is 5% sheep blood added to Columbia Agar?

Sheep blood enriches the basal medium by providing additional nutrients and growth factors that can support the recovery of microorganisms with demanding nutritional requirements. It also provides a suitable background for observing hemolysis.

3. What types of hemolysis can be observed on this agar?

Microorganisms may produce alpha, beta, or gamma hemolytic reactions on blood agar. These patterns can provide preliminary information about microbial characteristics but should not be used alone for definitive identification.

4. Are MP144-20PT plates ready to use?

Yes. The MP144-20PT product is supplied as a prepared, ready-to-use agar plate, reducing the need for in-house preparation, sterilization, blood supplementation, and plate pouring.

5. What is the pack size and product code?

The product code is MP144-20PT, and the product is supplied as a pack of 20 ready-to-use plates manufactured by Himedia.