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. 1980 Dec;40(6):1100–1105. doi: 10.1128/aem.40.6.1100-1105.1980

New medium for isolating propionibacteria and its application to assay of normal flora of human facial skin.

M Kishishita, T Ushijima, Y Ozaki, Y Ito
PMCID: PMC291727  PMID: 7470244

Abstract

The conditions for isolation and cultivation of Propionibacterium acnes and related propionibacteria were studied in detail. Triton X-100 added to the diluent inhibited the growth of propionibacteria in concentrations of 0.05 to 0.1%. However, such was not the case with Tween 80; rather, growth of the bacteria was further enhanced by this agent. Consequently, Tween 80 was considered to be a suitable surfactant for addition to the diluent for isolation of propionibacteria. A new medium for isolating propionibacteria from human skin was developed. Comparative studies with colonies of P. acnes, Propionibacterium granulosum, and Staphylococcus epidermidis showed morphological differences among the colonies; thus, the medium was very useful for differentiating and identifying species of the microbes. The new medium was used for studies on the distribution of propionibacteria on the foreheads of 30 Japanese volunteers. Among 447 strains of P. acnes and 86 strains of P. granulosum isolated from the volunteers, all strains of the former were positive for indole, nitrate, milk, and gelatin hydrolysis, whereas all strains of the latter were negative for all of the tests.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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