Sabouraud's agar

A liquid nutrient medium for culturing and preserving fungi. Contains peptone and meltose. Unlike bacteria, fungi prefer an acid environment. 

Aspergillus fumigatus sabouraud agar plate

In order to suppress bacterial growth antibiotics is added to the substrate. Sabouraud's agar is now mostly used as a commercial ready made substrate based on Sabouraud's glucose agar.

More details: 📖 Practical Manual of Medical Microbiology

'Sabouraud glucose agar' is the name recommended for present-day versions of the medium originally designed by Raymond Sabouraud. The title 'Sabouraud glucose agar' implies a medium comprising 1% (w:v) peptone, 4% (w:v) glucose and 1.5-2.0% (w:v) agar with a final pH of 5.6 and should not be applied to any other formulation, in the interests of inter-laboratory reproducibility. Use of the word 'dextrose' as a synonym for 'glucose' is not recommended. The colony forms, microscopic characteristics and other physiological properties of fungi cultivated on Sabouraud glucose agar may vary considerably according to the type of peptone used in the medium. The type of agar chosen and the conditions of autoclave sterilization are further obstacles to true standardization of this widely used mycological culture medium.

Raymond Jacques Adrien Sabouraud (1864 - 1938), French dermatologist.

Raymond Jacques Adrien Sabouraud

Raymond Jacques Adrien Sabouraud was the son of a painter. He attended secondary school in Nantes, Paris, and Angers. He began his medical studies in Nantes, but moved to Paris. In 1884 he trained in the servicwe of Benjamin Ball (1834-1893) at the Hôpital Laënnec, and in 1885 he did voluntary military service in Lille. In 1887 he entered the Hôpital Cochin in Paris to study with Georges Saintford Octave Dujardin-Beaumetz (1833-1895) who had established a laboratory for chemistry and microbiology in his service.

In 1889, whilst still a student, began specialising in dermatology. He worked with Jean Baptiste Emile Vidal (1825-1893) and Ernest Henri Besnier (1831-1909), and spent most of his internship – Interne des Hôpitaux de Paris – with Besnier at the Hôpital St. Louis in 1890, and worked under Edouard Francis Kirmisson (1848-1927) at the l'Hôpital des Enfants-Assistés. Following his internship he spent time at the Pasteur Institute learning the basics of bacteriology from Roux.

In 1891 he began working in the Hôpital Saint-Antoine. Here, encouraged by Pierre-Paul-Émile Roux (1853-1933) he set up his own modest bacteriological labortaory. In thos laboratory, among other things, he searched for the bacterium causing suphilis.

During 1892 to 1894 he worked with Besnier, and in 1894 he was conferred doctor of medicine with a thesis on his research. Enclosed with this work was a picture atlas that increased the general interest of his work to a high degree. From 1884 to 1897 he was chief of Jean Alfred Fournier's (1832-1914) laboratory at the Hôpital Saint-Louis in 1897.

Sabouraud conducted extensive investigations in the role of fungal infections as a cause of diseases of the skin. After some years he was able to present 50 species of fungi causing skin diseases, and developed agars for culturing and observing these fungi. Sabouraud was soon invited to lecture on fungi at the Pasteur Institute. Although he never held an official chair, students flocked to his lectures.

In 1897 he was assigned by the city council of Paris to head Ecole Lailler at he Hôpital Saint-Louis. This school was established to educate children susceptible to fungal infections. In his extensive studies of the role of fungi in skin diseases, Sabouraud revived and elaborated the discoveries of the Austrian-born French physician David Gruby (1810-1898).

Sabouraud developed an X-ray apparatus which could be used for removing hair from affected areas of the skin. This reduced the time for treatment considerably. He also developed a technique for monitoring the amount of radiation delivered. This enabled its safe use in epilation to treat ringworm of the scalp, and he introduced radiological treatment againgst ringworms in 1904.

Sabouraud became famous for his knowledge of scalp diseases and had a a "bald headed clinic" which attracted people from all over the world.

In addition to being a worlwide known mycologist, Sabouraud was a fine musician with a deep knowledge of the arts and acknowledged as a gifted sculptor by critics of his day. His debut as a sculptor was in 1889.

With Louis-Anne-Jean Brocq (1856-1928) and Ferdinand-Jean Darier (1856-1938) he is considered among the greatest of French dermatologists. Sabouraud retired in 1928.

References

1: Odds FC. Sabouraud('s) agar. J Med Vet Mycol. 1991;29(6):355-9. doi:

10.1080/02681219180000581. PMID: 1815027.

2: Kapica L, Shaw CE, Bartlett GW. Inhibition of Histoplasma capsulatum by

Candida albicans and other yeasts on Sabouraud's agar media. J Bacteriol. 1968

Jun;95(6):2171-6. doi: 10.1128/JB.95.6.2171-2176.1968. PMID: 5669894; PMCID:

PMC315150.

3: Guinea J, Peláez T, Alcalá L, Bouza E. Evaluation of Czapeck agar and

Sabouraud dextrose agar for the culture of airborne Aspergillus conidia. Diagn

Microbiol Infect Dis. 2005 Dec;53(4):333-4. doi:

10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2005.07.002. Epub 2005 Nov 2. PMID: 16263232.

4: Scognamiglio T, Zinchuk R, Gumpeni P, Larone DH. Comparison of inhibitory

mold agar to Sabouraud dextrose agar as a primary medium for isolation of fungi.

J Clin Microbiol. 2010 May;48(5):1924-5. doi: 10.1128/JCM.01814-09. Epub 2010

Mar 10. PMID: 20220162; PMCID: PMC2863941.

5: Bordallo-Cardona MA, Marcos-Zambrano LJ, Gómez G de la Pedrosa E, Escribano

P, Bouza E, Guinea J, Cantón R. Fluconazole-containing agar Sabouraud dextrose

plates are not useful when screening for susceptibility in Candida albicans. Rev

Esp Quimioter. 2017 Apr;30(2):127-130. Epub 2017 Feb 9. PMID: 28181429.

6: Tilles G. L'invention du "milieu de Sabouraud", un progrès décisif en

mycologie médicale [Invention of Sabouraud agar: progress in medical mycology].

Presse Med. 2006 Sep;35(9 Pt 2):1403-5. French. doi:

10.1016/s0755-4982(06)74824-2. PMID: 16969337.

7: Reddy AK, Brahmaiah U, Narayen N, Reddy RK, Reddy RK, Chitta M, Prasad S,

Swarup R, Mohiuddin SM, Reddy M, Aasuri MK, Murthy BS, Bhide M, Ahmed S. Is

blood agar an alternative to sabouraud dextrose agar for the isolation of fungi

in patients with mycotic keratitis. Int Ophthalmol. 2013 Jun;33(3):251-4. doi:

10.1007/s10792-012-9683-5. Epub 2012 Nov 30. PMID: 23196788.

8: Mani RS. Of moulds and medals. Indian J Med Ethics. 2016 Oct-

Dec;1(4):254-255. doi: 10.20529/IJME.2016.071. PMID: 27731297.