WILKINS – CHALGREN ANAEROBE AGAR

A medium for the general culturing and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of anaerobic organisms from clinical material

Description

Amyl Wilkins-Chalgren Agar, AM217, is based on the formulation of Wilkins and Chalgren1, who developed the medium in response to a need for a standardized, blood free medium that could be used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing of a wide range of anaerobic bacteria. Components of the medium include Yeast extract as a source of vitamins and other vital growth factors necessary for the proliferation of more fastidious anaerobes such as Prevotella melanogenica, Peptostreptococcus anaerobius and Fusobacterium necrophorum, while the presence of the amino acid arginine benefits the growth of certain Eubacterium species. Pyruvate provides an energy source for, particularly, some of the more delicate gram positive anaerobes, while haemin and menadione are essential for the growth of the majority of gram negative anaerobes2,3.

Single source peptones derived from casein and gelatin were used by Wilkins and Chalgren1 to standardize the medium which, unlike other recognised anaerobic media such as Schaedler Blood Agar and Brucella Agar, does not require the addition of blood for the satisfactory growth of anaerobes.

 

Additional information

Size

100gm, 2500gm, 5000gm, 500gm