Bordet-Gengou agar

Bordet-Gengou agar is a type of agar plate optimized to isolate Bordetella, containing blood, potato extract, and glycerol, with an antibiotic such as cephalexin or penicillin and sometimes nicotinamide.[1] The potato extract provided nitrogen and vitamins, and potato starch absorbed fatty acids present in nasal secretions or collection-swab cotton that inhibited growth; glycerol was a carbon source.[2] Medical Microbiology, 4th edition[1] states that Regan-Lowe medium[2] (containing charcoal, blood, and antibiotic) has replaced Bordet-Gengou medium as the medium of choice for routine Bordetella pertussis incubation.

Bordetella bacteria were difficult to culture; Jules Bordet and Octave Gengou invented the first version to isolate the coccobacillus, named Bordet-Gengou in 1906, they believed was associated with whooping cough. In 1909, it was not yet established that the coccobacillus was solely the cause.[3]