A culturing article according to which one part of a wick is placed in engagement with a body fluid in order to check for the presence of suspected microorganisms. An opposed part of the wick is maintained out of engagement with the body fluid, so that by capillary action the body fluid will progress along the wick from the one part toward the opposed part thereof. The progress of the body fluid from the one part toward the opposed part of the wick is limited to achieve a density gradient according to which the body fluid is most dense at the one part of the wick which engages the body fluid while the body fluid becomes gradually less dense from the one part toward the opposed part of the wick, to provide a density gradient. A culture medium engages the wick to encourage predetermined microorganisms to grow, and at a certain portion of the density gradient the microorganisms will be very clearly evident. The wick as well as the culture medium may be in the form of a roll which is encapsulated to be enclosed at all except the part of the wick which engages the body fluid, or the wick and culture medium may take the form of separate layers. The culture medium may have portions of different properties for encouraging different microorganisms to grow, so that it becomes possible to check simultaneously for the presence of different microorganisms.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
The present application is a division of copending application Ser. No. 405,939, filed Oct. 12, 1973 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,864,213, and entitled CULTURING METHOD.
A method and a device for producing predetermined and defined varying concentration patterns of chemically or biologically active substances in chemical or biological qualitative or quantitative determinative methods, the method comprising application of the substance(s) within part of or the whole of a rectangular area of a medium in a concentration pattern having at least one concentration maximum and one concentration minimum: the device comprising a rectangular carrier on which the substance(s) have been applied so that the concentration pattern(s) thereof exhibit at least one concentration maximum and one concentration minimum.
A device for susceptibility testing of microorganisms comprising a transparent, sealable container (1), a rectangular carrier (3) coated with a growth medium, a sealing arrangment (2) for sealing the container (1), and a rectangular, transparent, non-porous, inert test strip (4) optionally provided with a grip. Two antimicrobial substances separated by a substance-free zone are applied on one side of the strip in concentration gradients exhibiting maxima and minima. On the other side of the test strip is a scale for direct reading of the susceptibility the above-mentioned concentration gradient(s) being pre-defined and adapted to the reading scale.
A simple, inexpensive and accurate device of collecting human cells from a body cavity for cytodiagnosis comprising an absorbent carrier which contains an internal, rupturable fluid sac, a means for rupturing the fluid sac and an absorbent outer covering for collection of the cell sample.
