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''. Differe ...

for growing microorganisms. It is a nutrient-rich medium, and can therefore be used to culture a variety of fastidious organisms. In particular, it has been used to

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

streptococci, pneumococci and meningococci, 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 Bos, cattle, bison, African buffalo, Bubalus, water buffalos, and the four-horned and spiral-horned antelopes. The members of this gro ...

or porcine 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, food processing, preparation, and food storage, storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a simi ...

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 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 an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is one of several sodium phosphates. The salt is known in anhydrous form as well as hydrates , where ...

as a buffer, rather than the

calcium carbonate Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a common substance found in Rock (geology), rocks as the minerals calcite and aragonite, most notably in chalk and limestone, eggshells, gastropod shells, shellfish skel ...

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 Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the Proteinogenic amino acid, 22 α-amino acids incorporated into p ...

(often either digested

gelatin Gelatin or gelatine () 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 be referred to as hydrolyzed collagen, coll ...

or other animal tissue), salt, disodium phosphate as a buffer, and

glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae d ...

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" and " tengusa". As found in nature, agar is a mixture of two components, t ...

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

References

{{Growth media Microbiological media

Uses

History

Components

See also

References