Biplates: MacConkey Agar and Tryptic Soy Agar (TSA) w/ 5% Sheep Blood

S2Media™ MacConkey Agar and TSA w/ 5% Sheep Blood prepared culture media biplates by S²Media are manufactured using high-quality raw materials.

MacConkey Agar is a selective and differential medium intended for the detection and isolation of Gram-negative enteric bacilli. Escherichia coli can ferment lactose to produce acid, which decreases pH. This is indicated by neutral red resulting in pink colonies. Increased acid production results in the precipitation of bile salts, or a halo, around lactose fermenting bacteria. Non-lactose fermenting bacteria such as Salmonella spp. grow but remain colorless without a bile precipitate.

Blood Agar (Tryptic Soy Agar w/ 5% Sheep Blood) is a non-selective, differential growth medium intended for the cultivation of non-fastidious and fastidious microorganisms and for the visualization of hemolytic reactions.

👉 Key Performance Features:

• Dual-medium format: Combines MacConkey Agar and Blood Agar in a single divided plate for parallel cultivation and differentiation from the same specimen.

• Broad organism recovery: Blood Agar supports growth of a wide range of fastidious and non-fastidious microorganisms, while MacConkey Agar selectively supports many Gram-negative enteric organisms.

• Gram-negative selectivity: Bile salts and crystal violet in MacConkey Agar inhibit most Gram-positive organisms, facilitating isolation of Gram-negative bacilli.

• Lactose fermentation differentiation: MacConkey Agar differentiates lactose-fermenting organisms, which typically produce pink to red colonies, from non-lactose fermenters, which generally remain colorless or translucent.

• Hemolysis differentiation: Blood Agar permits evaluation of hemolytic reactions, including alpha, beta, and gamma/non-hemolytic growth patterns.

• Enhanced detection of mixed cultures: Side-by-side media provide complementary colony morphology, pigmentation, lactose fermentation, and hemolysis characteristics to aid recognition of mixed microbial populations.

• Efficient primary culture: The biplate format reduces the number of individual plates required while providing both general-purpose and selective/differential culture conditions.

• Presumptive organism differentiation: Comparative growth and colony characteristics across both media can support preliminary differentiation of clinically significant microorganisms for subsequent identification and susceptibility testing.

👉 Finished product meets the following standards and references:

• CLSI

• ISO

• USP

🧫 Application Areas:

• Clinical and healthcare microbiology

• Primary culture of patient specimens

• Isolation and differentiation of Gram-negative enteric bacteria

• Detection and differentiation of lactose-fermenting and non-lactose-fermenting organisms

• Recovery of fastidious and non-fastidious microorganisms

• Evaluation of hemolytic reactions

• Urine and urinary tract specimen culture

• Wound and soft tissue specimen culture

• Respiratory specimen culture

• Mixed culture screening and organism isolation

• Veterinary diagnostic microbiology

Equivalent or Comparable to Item Numbers:

• J32

• R02049

• R02050

• J32BX