Thayer-Martin agar
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Comparison of two culture media types used to grow Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria.

Known as overgrowth, note that the non-selective chocolate agar medium on the left, due to its composition, allowed for the growth of organismal colonies other than those of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, while the selective Thayer-Martin medium on the right, containing antimicrobials that inhibit the growth of organisms other than N. gonorrhoeae, shows no overgrowth, but is positive for N. gonorrhoeae bacteria.

Thayer-Martin agar (or Thayer-Martin medium) is a Mueller-Hinton agar with 5% chocolate sheep blood and antibiotics. It is used for culturing and primarily isolating Neisseria bacteria, including Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis, as the medium inhibits the growth of most other microorganisms. When growing Neisseria meningitidis, one usually starts with a normally sterile body fluid (blood or CSF), so a plain chocolate agar is used.

It usually contains the following combination of antibiotics called VCN inhibitor:

• Vancomycin, which is able to kill all Gram-positive organisms;

• Colistin, which is added to kill all Gram-negative organisms except Neisseria; and

• Nystatin, which can kill all fungi.

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