Chloramphenicol storage life - (Sep/26/2012 )

Hi guys,

I have some fungal isolates I'm working with and I'm trying to get rid of potential satellite bacteria growing with them using chloramphenicol (Cam).

I haven't had any problems with most of them but one of the cultures seems to be contaminated with some slimy central-spore forming bacteria. I used originally a stock in ethanol 1 month old so I repeated it with fresh solution with the same result.

The Cam was already in the lab and it has been there in the fridge for years (though in the bottle says to store it at RT), but I cannot find info about storage life of the pure solid Cam. Do you know something about it?

Thanks.

Personally I wouldn't trust it if it has been there for years. Cam is more stable in the fridge than at room temp though.

Try a Merck Index (if you have one available) for this sort of info - though you often have to search the references therein to find these things.

Well, we bought a new one but the contaminant is Cam resistant ¬¬'...

Looking for antibiotic cocktails now... or maybe regrow the fungi at pH < 2.0 (yes, my isolates can do it ) it may kill the bacteria...