Jhoanna Michelle P.

Valera
BSN 3-3
201912710

1. Provide three reasons why the use of aseptic technique is essential when handling
microbial cultures in the laboratory. 

  Prevent cultures, sterile media stocks, and other solutions from being contaminated
by unwanted microorganisms.

 Prevent contamination of the room and personnel with the microorganism we are
working with.

 It also assure that no contaminates remain after procedures are done.

2. Provide two examples of how heat is used during inoculation of a tube culture.
 This ensures that no microorganisms enter the mouth of the vessel to contaminate the
culture or the medium.
 It sterilizes the mouth of the culture tube, the inoculating loop, and the mouth of the
media tube to be inoculated.

3. How is air contamination prevented when an inoculating loop is used to introduce or take a
bacterial sample to/from an agar plate? 
 Only open the lid partially, just enough to access the agar surface with an inoculating
loop.

4. Disinfectants are effective against which types of organisms? Which types of organisms may
remain on the lab bench even after disinfection? 
 Disinfectants, such a bleach and alcohol, are generally useful against vegetative cell
and viruses but may not completely eradicate bacterial endospores.
5. Provide two examples of chemical disinfectants commonly used in the laboratory and
their modes of action.
 Hydrogen peroxide - Hydrogen peroxide works by producing destructive hydroxyl
free radicals that can attack membrane lipids, DNA, and other essential cell
components. Catalase, produced by aerobic organisms and facultative anaerobes that
possess cytochrome systems, can protect cells from metabolically produced hydrogen
peroxide by degrading hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen. This defense is
overwhelmed by the concentrations used for disinfection.
 Alcohol - The most feasible explanation for the antimicrobial action of alcohol is
denaturation of proteins. This mechanism is supported by the observation that
absolute ethyl alcohol, a dehydrating agent, is less bactericidal than mixtures of
alcohol and water because proteins are denatured more quickly in the presence of
water. Protein denaturation also is consistent with observations that alcohol destroys
the dehydrogenases of Escherichia coli.