Inhibition of Bacteroides fragilis on blood agar plates and reversal of inhibition by added hemin

T D Wilkins; S L Chalgren; F Jimenez-Ulate; C R Drake, Jr; J L Johnson

doi:10.1128/jcm.3.3.359-363.1976

. 1976 Mar;3(3):359–363. doi: 10.1128/jcm.3.3.359-363.1976

Inhibition of Bacteroides fragilis on blood agar plates and reversal of inhibition by added hemin.

T D Wilkins, S L Chalgren, F Jimenez-Ulate, C R Drake Jr, J L Johnson

PMCID: PMC274299 PMID: 1270596

Abstract

Bacteroides fragilis strains formed much smaller colonies on most types of blood agar plates than they did on the same media without blood. Blood inhibited strains of B. fragilis subsp. distasonis the most and B. fragilis subsp. fragilis the least. The inhibition could be eliminated by adding hemin to the blood agar. The inhibitory component of the blood was inside the erythrocytes and appeared to be the hemin-free globin of hemoglobin.