Survival of anaerobic bacteria in common laboratory diluents.

The survival of six species of anaerobic bacteria was studied in simple or commercially available diluents. Bacteroides fragilis and Fusobacterium nucleatum showed excellent survival in all diluents including distilled water. Fusobacterium mortiferum survived well in all diluents except water and water supplemented with 0.1% gelatain. Clostridium perfringens survived best in phosphate-buffered saline with gelatin. Peptococcus asaccharolyticus required gelatin added to the basic diluent, and Streptococcus intermedius showed excellent survival only in minimal essential medium with gelatin. These diluents could provide effective and economical alternatives to more complex and costly diluents often used in work with anaerobic bacteria.