PABA doesn't interfere with antibiotic diffusion, it is an antagonist of
sulphonamide antimicrobials. If PABA is present in a medium it reduces
sulphonamide zone sizes or increases the MIC.
Derek Law
Company Microbiologist
LabM (UK)
Frederic Langlois <ye.midget.pirates.deleted.my.account at the.seven.seas>
wrote in message news:c_NX5.1$2g1.4901 at carnaval.risq.qc.ca...
> I finally found out (to late I guess since my exam was last week) that
> Mueller-Hinton media doesn't contain PABA (para aminobenzoic acid) which
> interferes with antibiotic diffusion in the medium.
>> I took me a while to figure it out because many many books only stated it
> was used for antibiotic screenning because it's a standard... not really
> helpful ::|
>> thanks for replying though ::)
>> Fred
>> > On Wed, 06 Dec 2000 19:01:20 -0800, Toai T NGUYEN <ttnguyen at uci.edu>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >I really do not know why Mueller-Hinton is preferred over other media
for
> the
> > >screening of antibiotic resistance. As far as I am concerned, if it
> ain't
> > >broke, don't fix it!
> > >
> >
> > As someone else noted briefly, MH is used because it has become the de
> > facto standard. At that point, no rational reason is needed, and no
> > one may remember any original reason, if there is one. But for
> > consistency, it is declared standard.
> >
> > bob
>
