Reagent

COMBICULT is a reagent for laboratory use only. LowensteinJensen medium is provided as a ready to use slant Kirchner

medium is provided as a three-component medium.

a. Kirchner medium base

b. Kirchner selective enrichment containing antibiotic

cocktail Polymyxin B, Amphotericin B, Carbenicillin,

Trimethoprim (PACT)

c. Sterile distilled water for reconstitution of Kirchner

selective enrichment.

Lowenstein-Jensen medium is a standard non-selective

inspissated egg based solid medium for the isolation of

Mycobacterium tuberculosis from biological specimen

such as sputum, CSF, urine. Lowenstein-Jensen medium

supports the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The glycerol present in the Lowenstein-Jensen medium

enhances the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Accurate amount of malachite green not only has an

inhibitory effect on growth of organisms other than

Mycobacterium but also provide the desired color contrast

for easy identification of Mycobacterium colonies.

Kirchner medium is a liquid medium enriched with

serum. Kirchner medium has polymyxin B, amphotericin

B, carbenicillin, trimethoprim as inhibitory antibiotic

cocktail for most of the bacteria and fungus other than

Mycobacterium. Being a buffered medium, it allows direct

inoculation of larger inoculum up to 500 µL, and also

keeps up the acid base balance during the growth phase.

Principle

The gold standard for primary isolation of Mycobacterium

tuberculosis is the use of liquid media in conjunction

with solid media. Most Mycobacterium species grow

more quickly in liquid media than solid media. Liquid

media also support higher detection rates especially

with specimen material containing smaller number of

bacilli. Simultaneous inoculation of solid media and

liquid media yields significantly higher recovery rates for

Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth as compared to when

each media is used independently.