title: Enumeration of mycoplasmas after acridine orange staining.
abstract: Samples of liquid mycoplasma cultures were mixed with equal part of a 0.01% solution of acridine orange and placed on agar plates. The number of fluorescing organisms per field was counted in an epifluorescence microscope at an X 1,000 magnification. When the number of fluorescing organisms per field was related to the number of colony-forming units per milliliter during the growth cycle, highly significant correlation was found in cultures with greater than or equal to 10(6) colony-forming units per ml during the exponential growth phase. The counts were weakly correlated during the stationary phase and not correlated during the death phase. This technique provides a mean to enumerate mycoplasmas in liquid cultures.
mesh_terms: D000165:Acridine Orange; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D009174:Mycoplasma / Q000254:growth & development*; D013194:Staining and Labeling
chemical_list: D000165:Acridine Orange