Urea Agar: Uses, Applications & Microbiology

Microbiology involves culturing organisms, but this requires a medium called agar for the organisms to feed on and grow. Agar is a solid substance that comes from boiling algae. Urea agar is a specific type of agar.

Enteric Bacilli

• Urea agar is used to culture specific bacteria, such as enteric or intestinal bacilli. Enteric bacilli produce an enzyme called urease that breaks down the urea in the agar.

Stool Specimens

• Urea agar was designed to differentiate between various enteric bacteria found within stool specimens.

Non-Enteric Bacteria

• Urea agar is also used to culture some bacteria that is not enteric in nature, such as bordetella and brucella.

Salmonella

• Urea agar can include other compounds, like lactose, which makes it a growing medium for detecting salmonella.

Significance

• Urea agar is used when speed is needed to type bacteria. It is generally made with dextrose, which is a sugar, and peptone, which is a protein that causes bacteria cultures to grow quickly.