- Bacterial contamination is one of the most common cell culture contamination.
- Poor aseptic culture conditions, including handling, incubator and laminar flow hood, or culture media, can be common sources of bacterial contamination.
- Contaminated culture often becomes turbid and the medium turns yellow (phenol red containing medium).
- Microscopic inspection of culture is often sufficient to confirm the presence of bacteria. Motile bacteria and bacterial clumps are often observed in contaminated cultures, which can easily be distinguished from cell debris. However, low levels of contamination may go undetectable in the presence of antibiotics in culture.
- In such cases, suspected contaminated culture can be grown in the absence of antibiotics, which will allow the bacteria to grow, thus contamination can be detected easily.
- Usually, a contaminated culture once confirmed is discarded immediately. In the case of precious culture, one can try to rescue the culture by treating the culture in the presence of a high concentration of antibiotics. Frequently replacing the culture medium containing highly concentrated bactericidal antibiotics may help to eliminate the bacterial contamination.
Was this post helpful?
Let us know if you liked the post. That’s the only way we can improve.
