Growth of cholesterol-reducing Eubacterium on cholesterol-brain agar

Abstract

An agar medium containing 5% cholesterol has been developed for the isolation, enumeration, and characterization of cholesterol-reducing strains of Eubacterium. Cholesterol-brain agar contained the following components (in grams per liter): cholesterol (USP grade), 50; brain powder, 30; papain (catalog no. P-3375, Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo.), 2; Casamino Acids (Difco Laboratories, Detroit, Mich.), 10; yeast extract (Difco) 10; lecithin (commercial grade, Sigma), 10; K2HPO4, 5; sodium thioglycolate, 0.5; trypan blue, 0.1; and agar, 16.