Fluid Thioglycollate Medium doesn’t tend to have other name variants. It is also universally known by its abbreviated name FTM.
Fluid Thioglycollate Medium (FTM) is used for the isolation and cultivation of aerobic and anaerobic organisms and is widely used in sterility testing applications. The addition of a small quantity of agar helps to retain the anaerobic conditions within the medium.
The medium’s complex formulation includes a small amount of agar and resazurin. The agar controls the ingress of oxygen within the medium to maintain anaerobiosis in the lower part of the medium. The resazurin is an indicator dye which in the presence of oxygen turns pink.
Typical formulation: | g/ltr |
Yeast extract | 5.0 |
Tryptone | 15.0 |
Glucose | 5.5 |
Sodium thioglycollate | 0.5 |
Sodium chloride | 2.5 |
L-cystine | 0.5 |
Resazurin | 0.001 |
Agar | 0.75 |
pH 7.1 ±0.2
The main application for FTM medium is in sterility testing of products within pharma manufacturing. The harmonised pharmacopoeia medium is typically used alongside Tryptic Soy Broth (TSB).
As with most liquid medium, growth of microorganisms shows as turbidity in the otherwise clear liquid.
The prepared media is clear pale straw / yellowish liquid which can have a slightly opaque appearance in large volumes due to the small amount of agar in the formulation.
The medium can have an upper layer pink in colour. This is caused by oxidation within the medium, if the medium presents a pink layer less than a third of the overall volume, oxygen can be reduced by heating the medium once in a water bath.
Fluid Thioglycollate Medium will support growth of a wide range of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria if incubated under the right conditions. A typical set of control organisms are:
Organism |
Reaction |
Staphylococcus aureus |
Turbid/ visible growth |
Staphylococcus epidermidis |
Turbid/ visible growth |
Escherichia coli |
Turbid/ visible growth |
Bacillus subtilis |
Turbid/ visible growth |
Pseudomonas aeruginosa |
Turbid/ visible growth |
Candida albicans |
Turbid/ visible growth |
Clostridium sporogenes |
Turbid/ visible growth |
FTM medium is incubated at 30-35°C for the recovery of bacterial cultures. Due to the design of the media there is no requirement to incubate anaerobically for the recovery of anaerobic organisms.
FTM is a Harmonised Pharmacopoeia medium and as such is mentioned in the BP/EP/JP, as well as the US Pharmacopoeia.
EP Chapter Ref 2.6.1 Sterility testing |
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Recommended Culture Media |
Property |
Micro-organisms |
Incubation Time & Temp |
Fluid Thioglycollate Medium |
Growth promotion |
Clostridium sporogenes Pseudomonas aeruginosa Staphylococcus aureus |
30-35ºC for < 3 days |
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