What is middlebrook medium?

Middlebrook medium is a type of agar-based microbiological culture medium that is commonly used in laboratory settings for the isolation and cultivation of mycobacteria, which are a group of bacteria that cause serious diseases in humans and animals, including tuberculosis.

The medium was first developed and described by Dr. Glenn Middlebrook in 1954. It contains a mixture of several different nutrients and enrichment factors that support the growth of mycobacteria, including peptones, glucose, and oleic acid. Middlebrook medium is also supplemented with several different antibiotics, such as amphotericin B and polymyxin B, which inhibit the growth of other microorganisms that might be present in a sample.

Middlebrook medium is available in several different formulations, including Middlebrook 7H10 and Middlebrook 7H11, which are commonly used for culturing mycobacteria from clinical samples, and Middlebrook 7H9, which is used for the production of mycobacteria for research and diagnostic purposes.

Overall, Middlebrook medium is a highly specialized and carefully formulated microbiological culture medium that plays a critical role in the isolation and identification of mycobacterial infections.