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AAT Bioquest

What are the components of transport media?

Posted February 3, 2024


Answer

Transport media are specially formulated solutions used to preserve the viability of pathogenic microbes present in the specimen while it is being transported from the collection site to the laboratory for further analysis. The main components of transport media are carbohydrates, buffers, and salts. These nutrients are essential to preserve bacterial viability during transport. 

Organic growth factors and nutritional ingredients such as carbon and nitrogen are absent in transport media. This helps to prevent microbial multiplication during transportation and maintain the specimen as near as possible to its original state. 

Additional resources

A Decade of Development of Chromogenic Culture Media for Clinical Microbiology in an Era of Molecular Diagnostics

Cell Proliferation Assays

Cell Meter™ Fluorimetric Live Cell Cycle Assay Kit *Green Fluorescence Optimized for Flow Cytometry*