Intentional use

Inspissation is the process used when heating high-protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

 containing media; for example to enable recovery of bacteria

Bacteria

Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...

 for testing. Once inspissation has occurred, any stained bacteria, such as Mycobacteria

Mycobacterium

Mycobacterium is a genus of Actinobacteria, given its own family, the Mycobacteriaceae. The genus includes pathogens known to cause serious diseases in mammals, including tuberculosis and leprosy...

, can then be isolated.

A Serum inspissation or Fractional sterilization is a process of heating an article on 3 successive days as follows:

Day	Temperature	Time	Purpose
1	85°C	60 minutes	Drying of the medium and killing the organisms in their vegetative form
Time in between		overnight incubation	Growth of vegetative forms from spores
2	75 to 80°C	20 minutes	killing the organisms in their vegetative form
Time in between		overnight incubation	Growth of vegetative forms from any spores remaining
3	75 to 85°C	20 minutes	killing the organisms in their vegetative form as well as the leftover spores

Pathologic inspissation

In cystic fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis is a recessive genetic disease affecting most critically the lungs, and also the pancreas, liver, and intestine...

, inspissation of secretions in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts is a major mechanism of causing the disease.

Further reading

• Textbook of Microbiology by Prof. C P Baveja, ISBN 81-7855-266-3
• Textbook of Microbiology by Ananthanarayan and Panikar, ISBN 81-250-2808-0