SIMPLIFIED CAPACITANCE MONITORING FOR THE DETERMINATION OF CAMPYLOBACTER SPP. GROWTH RATES

Capacitance monitoring is commonly used as an efficient means to generate growth curves of bacterial pathogens. However, the use of capacitance monitoring with Campylobacter spp. was previously determined to be difficult due to the complexity of the required media. We investigated capacitance monitoring using a simplified medium for the efficient and reproducible construction of growth curves for Campylobacter spp . It was determined that Campylobacter spp. should initially be propagated on Mueller Hinton plates in a microaerobic atmosphere (5% O₂, 10% CO₂, 85% N₂) at 37C for 24 h, followed by transfer to Mueller Hinton biphasic cultures for 6 h at 37C in a microaerobic atmosphere. Serial dilutions of the Campylobacter spp. cultures should be used for inoculation of Bactometer wells that contain 1 mL Mueller Hinton broth supplemented with 0.1 M sodium pyruvate for the completion of Campylobacter spp. growth curves with the Bactometer.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Growth rates can vary greatly among Campylobacter isolates; therefore, the rapid and reproducible methods described will prove useful in studies where the generation of growth curves is critical for subsequent experimental analyses.