Time-Kill Assay Test

Time-Kill Assay

The time-kill assay is a laboratory method used to determine how well our test product can kill microorganisms over a certain amount of time. The test involves exposing these microorganisms to the test product and tracking their viability at different intervals.
We test our formulations on five challenge microorganisms to check their anti-microbial effect.

What Are Challenge Test Micro-organism's & Why We Use Them?

The challenge microorganisms used in the time-kill assay include Candida albicans (yeast - a form of fungus), Aspergillus brasiliensis (filamentous mold - a form of fungus), Escherichia coli (bacterium), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (bacterium), and Staphylococcus aureus (bacterium). They are used in the time-kill assay to test the effectiveness of a test product against a range of pathogenic microorganisms that it may get exposed to. Challenge microorganisms represent a broad spectrum of potential contaminants that could affect product quality or safety.

How We Test The Antimicrobial Effect Of Our Products?

Step 1

Introducing The Test Product

The first step involves preparing a culture of the microorganism of interest. The culture (liquid medium containing the microrganism) is then diluted to a specific concentration to ensurethe bacterial/fungal count is consistent across all test samples. This diluted culture is finally introduced to our test product.

Step 2

Calculating The Initial Pathogenic Population Count

Next, the initial population count for all five micro-organisms in the test product is calculated by diluting the solutionfrom the respective containers and culturing it on an agar plate (solidified gel base containing essential growth nutrients). The pathogens are then allowed to grow under appropriate lab conditions.

Step 3

Tracking The Growth Of Challenge Micro-organisms

Similar to the last step, the population count for each challenge micro-organism is calculated by the cell plating methodat different intervals of time. After each time duration, the concentration of the pathogen should reflect a steady decline as the test product works against them.

What's The Final Result?

For a product to show antimicrobial properties, the microorganisms should reflect a <99.9% decline in their concentration over the set amount of time. At Areoveda, the tested products reveal similar results!