ABSTRACT
The ideal technique for the primary culturing of anaerobes will be simple: protect the culture from oxygen in all phases of the technique, encourage good growth of all clinically important anaerobes in a reasonably short time while discouraging growth of contaminants, and not be too costly. This chapter considers these factors in the discussion of each procedure. The roll or streak tube technique requires the use of prereduced anaerobically sterilized media (PRAS), which refers to media that are sterilized in a reduced state and remain reduced continuously throughout the inoculation procedure. PRAS is available commercially from several well-known media supply houses or it may be prepared in the individual laboratory. The selected PRAS broth and the freshly poured agar plates stored in the chamber prior to use are employed for inoculation. The maintenance of anaerobic conditions in the chamber allows the grinding of tissues and homogenization of specimens or other preparative procedures to be made without exposure to oxygen.
