Brain heart infusion (BHI) is a

growth medium A growth medium or culture medium is a solid, liquid, or semi-solid designed to support the growth of a population of microorganisms or cells via the process of cell proliferation or small plants like the moss ''Physcomitrella patens''. Differen ...

for growing microorganisms. It is a nutrient-rich medium, and can therefore be used to culture a variety of

fastidious A fastidious organism is any organism that has complex or particular nutritional requirements. In other words, a fastidious organism will only grow when specific nutrients are included in its medium. The more restrictive term fastidious microorgan ...

organisms. In particular, it has been used to

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

streptococci ''Streptococcus'' is a genus of gram-positive ' (plural ) or spherical bacteria that belongs to the family Streptococcaceae, within the order Lactobacillales (lactic acid bacteria), in the phylum Bacillota. Cell division in streptococci occurs ...

pneumococci ''Streptococcus pneumoniae'', or pneumococcus, is a Gram-positive, spherical bacteria, alpha-hemolytic (under aerobic conditions) or beta-hemolytic (under anaerobic conditions), aerotolerant anaerobic member of the genus Streptococcus. They are ...

and

meningococci ''Neisseria meningitidis'', often referred to as meningococcus, is a Gram-negative bacterium that can cause meningitis and other forms of meningococcal disease such as meningococcemia, a life-threatening sepsis. The bacterium is referred to as a ...

, which can be otherwise challenging to grow. BHI is made by combining an infusion from boiled

bovine Bovines (subfamily Bovinae) comprise a diverse group of 10 genera of medium to large-sized ungulates, including cattle, bison, African buffalo, water buffalos, and the four-horned and spiral-horned antelopes. The evolutionary relationship betwee ...

porcine The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus s ...

heart and brain with a variety of other nutrients. BHI broth is often used in

food safety Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent food-borne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from t ...

water safety Water safety refers to the procedures, precautions and policies associated with safety in, on, and around bodies of water, where there is a risk of injury or drowning. It has applications in several occupations, sports and recreational activities. ...

, and

antibiotic sensitivity Antibiotic sensitivity testing or antibiotic susceptibility testing is the measurement of the susceptibility of bacteria to antibiotics. It is used because bacteria may have resistance to some antibiotics. Sensitivity testing results can allow ...

tests.

Uses

BHI is broadly used for culturing a variety of microorganisms, both in clinical and research settings. A number of fastidious organisms, including some bacteria, yeasts, and other fungi, grow well on BHI. It can also be used to differentiate between enterococci and group D streptococci.

History

The earliest version of brain heart infusion media was made in 1899 when Edward Rosenow combined dextrose broth with calf brain tissue to grow streptococci. This was modified in 1923 by Russell Haden while working on dental pathogens. Modern BHI typically uses an infusion from porcine brains and hearts rather than calf brain tissue, and uses

disodium phosphate Disodium phosphate (DSP), or disodium hydrogen phosphate, or sodium phosphate dibasic, is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2HPO4. It is one of several sodium phosphates. The salt is known in anhydrous form as well as forms with 2, 7, 8, ...

as a buffer, rather than the calcium carbonate used by Rosenow and Haden.

Components

BHI typically contains infusion of beef or pig heart as well as calf brain, a source of amino acids (often either digested

gelatin Gelatin or gelatine (from la, gelatus meaning "stiff" or "frozen") is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also ...

or other animal tissue), salt, disodium phosphate as a buffer, and glucose as a source of sugar. Many formulations for BHI agar also exist, in which

agar Agar ( or ), or agar-agar, is a jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from ogonori (''Gracilaria'') and "tengusa" (''Gelidiaceae''). As found in nature, agar is ...

is added as a gelling agent for growing plates of microorganisms.

References

{{Growth media Microbiological media

Uses

History

Components

See also

References