Comparison of dichloran rose bengal chloramphenicol and Sabouraud dextrose agar with cycloheximide and chloramphenicol for airborne mold sampling

• Published in: Aerobiologia Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 211 - 219
• Main Authors: Mentese, Sibel, Otkun, Muserref Tatman, Palaz, Elif
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-06-2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agar; Allergology; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Case Report; Chloramphenicol; Colonies; Culture media; Cycloheximide; Dextrose; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Environmental Health; Fungi; Mold; Plant Pathology; Pneumology/Respiratory System; Sampling; Culture medium; Dichloran rose bengal chloramphenicol (DRBC) agar; Outdoor air; Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA); Airborne mold sampling; Chloramphenicol (CHL); Indoor air
• ISSN: 0393-5965; 1573-3025
• DOI: 10.1007/s10453-016-9462-2

The more the mold species isolated on a culture medium, the more the sampling environment is represented accurately. According to the sampling purpose, it is crucial to use the best culture medium for mold. However, no study is available regarding the comparison of dichloran rose bengal chloramphenicol (DRBC) and Sabouraud dextrose agar with cycloheximide and chloramphenicol (SDA-CHX-CHL) culture media in terms of their application for airborne sampling, isolation, and identification of fungi. Airborne mold samples were impacted onto both DRBC and SDA-CHX-CHL, simultaneously using single-stage Andersen sampler. The limit of detection (LOD) value for airborne mold count was 7 CFU m
−3
(1 colony growth on the Petri dish). The total mold counts (TMC) ranged between <7 and 504 CFU m
−3
(med 56 CFU m
−3
) and <7 and 1218 CFU m
−3
(med 259 CFU m
−3
), collected on SDA-CHX-CHL and DRBC, respectively. Significantly higher TMC were observed on DRBC than on SDA regardless of the sampling environment (i.e, indoor or outdoor) (
p
 < 0.05). Among the most predominant mold genera, observation frequencies of
Penicillium
spp. and
Aspergillus
spp. on both culture media were found to be more than 70%. Observation frequencies of
Cladosporium
spp.,
Alternaria
spp., and yeast were found to be higher in samples collected on DRBC than those on SDA-CHX-CHL. Finally, DRBC was found to be superior to SDA in terms of both number of colonies and number of genera isolated from the air.