Abstract
A prerequisite for successful identification of anaerobic pathogenic bacteria from samples of clinical material is the method of cultivation. Currently, several methods of cultivation in anaerobic environment are used: cultivation in anaerobic box, anaerobic jar, and in nonrecurring cultivation system. Here, we determined the suitability of the above methods of cultivation using the estimation of the growth (diameters of colony size) of commonly isolated anaerobic pathogens (Bacteroides fragilis, Clostridium difficile, and Clostridium perfringens). The tested bacterial strains were exposed to atmospheric oxygen for various time periods and then they were cultivated using different anaerobic cultivation systems. Maximum growth differed, depending on the type of cultivation and the strain used. Thus, largest zone diameters, in the majority of measurements, were achieved in the anaerobic box. However, nonrecurring cultivation system seemed better in several cases; this applied to the cultivation of C. perfringens after 15, 30, and 60 min exposure to atmospheric oxygen as well as the cultivation of B. fragilis after 30 and 60 min of oxygen exposure. The cultivation in anaerobic box was the most convenient method for growth of C. difficile. In almost all cases, higher growth was observed in nonrecurring cultivation system than in the system of anaerobic jar. On the other hand, no significant differences were observed among these anaerobic cultivation systems which confirmed their applicability (taking into account some individual features concerning the optimization of cultivations) for identification of pathogenic anaerobes.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- BAFR:
-
(Bacteroides fragilis)
- CLDI:
-
(Clostridium difficile)
- CLPE:
-
(Clostridium perfringens)
References
Allen SD, Siders JA, Marler LM (1995) Current issues and problems in dealing with anaerobes in the clinical laboratory. Clin Lab Med 15:333–364
Baron EJ (2011) Approaches to identification of anaerobic bacteria. In: Versalovic J (ed) Manual of Clinical Microbiology, 10th edn. ASM, Washington D.C., pp 539–558
Chmelař D (2009) In vitro susceptibility to selected antibiotics in bacteria of the Bacteroides fragilis group. Folia Microbiol (Praha) 54:353–358
Cox ME, Kohr RJ, Samia CK (1997) Comparison of quality control results with use of anaerobic chambers versus anaerobic jars. Clin Infect Dis 25:S137–S138
Imhof A, Heinzer I (1996) Continuous monitoring of oxygen concentrations in several systems for cultivation of anaerobic bacteria. J Clin Microbiol 34:1646–1648
Jean D, Briolat V, Reysset G (2004) Oxidative stress response in Clostridium perfringens. Microbiology 150:1649–1659
Mangels JI (1998) Anaerobic bacteriology. In: Isenberg HD (ed) Essential procedures for clinical microbiology. ASM, Washington D.C., pp 127–167
Miller PH, Wiggs LS, Miller JM (1995) Evaluation of AnaeroGen system for growth of anaerobic bacteria. J Clin Microbiol 33:2388–2391
Murray PR, Niles AC (1982) Effect of incubation conditions on anaerobic susceptibility testing results. J Clin Microbiol 16:1152–1154
Park Y, Choi JY, Yong D, Lee K, Kim JM (2009) Clinical features and prognostic factors of anaerobic infections: a 7-year retrospective study. Korean J Intern Med 24:13–18
Rolfe RD, Hentges DJ, Barrett JT, Campbell BJ (1977) Oxygen tolerance of human intestinal anaerobes. Am J Clin Nutr 30:1762–1769
Shahin M, Jamal W, Verghese T, Rotimi VO (2003) Comparative evaluation of anoxomat and conventional anaerobic GasPak jar systems for the isolation of anaerobic bacteria. Med Princ Pract 12:81–86
Summanen PH, McTeague MM, Väisänen ML, Strong CA, Finegold SM (1999) Comparison of recovery of anaerobic bacteria using the Anoxomat, anaerobic chamber, and GasPak jar systems. Anaerobe 5:5–9
Van Horn KG, Warren K, Baccaglini E (1997) Evaluation of the AnaeroPack system for growth of anaerobic bacteria. J Clin Microbiol 35:2170–2173
Wilson JR, Limaye AP (2004) Risk factors for mortality in patients with anaerobic bacteremia. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 23:310–316
Acknowledgments
This project was supported by a grant project no. 801100021/39, Surveillance of Infectious Complications in Hemato-Oncological Patients.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Holý, O., Chmelař, D. Oxygen tolerance in anaerobic pathogenic bacteria. Folia Microbiol 57, 443–446 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-012-0149-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-012-0149-y