Development of Artificial Sebum-containing Leeming and Notman Agar Medium to Enhance the Growth of Malassezia

Abstract Modified Leeming and Notman agar medium (mLNA) has been widely utilized to grow lipophilic fungi belonging to the genus Malassezia . We developed a new artificial sebum-containing mLNA to obtain higher yields of Malassezia spp. The olive oil in mLNA was replaced with artificial sebum composed of triglyceride (triolein), diglyceride (glyceryl distearate), fatty acids (palmitic acid, myristic acid, pentadecanoic acid, and oleic acid), and squalene, and the Tween 60 was replaced with glyceryl stearate. Nine human-associated Malassezia species grew well on the artificial sebum-containing mLNA, and the yield of the most predominant fungus on human skin, Malassezia restricta , in artificial sebum-containing mLNA was double that in standard mLNA.