Difference Between MBC and MIC

Difference Between MBC and MIC: The MBC and MIC are two microbiological tests used to evaluate the germicidal activity of antimicrobial agents. These tests evaluate antimicrobial agents for their effectiveness. Both these tests are very important when developing new antimicrobial drugs and are performed by qualified microbiologists. The main difference between MBC and MIC is that MBC is the lowest concentration of the microbial agent.

Difference Between MBC and MIC

The difference Between MBC and MIC are as follows:

Parameters	Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC)	Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC)
Definition	The lowest concentration required to kill bacteria	The lowest concentration that inhibits bacterial growth
Measurement	The Bacterial absence (no visible growth) on agar	The Bacterial growth inhibition (no visible growth)
Purpose	Determines bactericidal activity of an antibiotic	Assesses antibiotic potency and susceptibility
Outcome	Indicates the ability to eradicate the bacteria	Indicates the ability to inhibit bacterial growth
Testing method	Samples from MIC assay inoculated on agar plates	Serial dilutions of antibiotics in a controlled environment
Results interpretation	The MBC value is higher or equal to the MIC value	The MBC value is typically higher than the MIC value
Clinical relevance	Important for severe infections and immunocompromised patients	Guides selection of appropriate antibiotic treatment
Classification of antibiotics	Distinguishes between bactericidal and bacteriostatic drugs	Assesses the effectiveness of antibiotics

What is MBC?

The MBC is the minimum bactericidal concentration which is the lowest concentration of the antimicrobial agent. This prevents the growth of the organism in media containing no antibiotics after the subculture. Also known as the lowest concentration of an antimicrobial agent required to kill bacteria over a specified extended period of time under specific conditions. Therefore, MBC shows low levels of microbial agents that cause microbial death. MBC & MFC generally refer to the lowest concentration of a microbial agent that reduces microbial viability by 99%.

• MBC stands for minimum bactericidal concentration.
• It is a microbiology term.
• It is used in antimicrobial susceptibility testing to determine the lowest concentration of an antimicrobial agent that completely kills a particular bacterial strain or pathogen.
• MBC testing is performed by exposing bacteria to various concentrations of an antimicrobial agent and then determining the minimum concentration at which no bacterial growth is observed after a specified incubation period.

What is MIC?

The MIC stands for “Maximal Information Coefficient.” It is a statistical measure used to quantify the strength and complexity of relationships between two variables. The Maximal Information Coefficient was introduced by Reshef et al. in 2011 as a way to detect both linear and non-linear dependencies between variables.

• MIC means minimum inhibitory concentration.
• MBC is the term used in microbial susceptibility testing.
• MIC represents the lowest concentration of an antimicrobial agent that inhibits the visible growth of a specific bacterial strain or pathogen.
• bacteria are exposed to different concentrations of an antimicrobial agent and the MIC is determined as the lowest concentration at which no visible growth of bacteria occurs after a specified incubation period.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the main difference between MBC (Maximal Bi-partite Correlation) and MIC (Maximal Information Coefficient) lies in their underlying methodologies and objectives. MBC is a measure used to identify relationships between variables in a bi-partite (two-group) setting. It quantifies the strength and significance of association between variables belonging to different groups. MBC considers the joint distribution of variables and calculates a correlation coefficient that captures the association between the two groups. It is primarily focused on capturing associations between groups rather than individual variables within each group.

FAQs on MBC and MIC

Q: What does MBC stand for?

Answer:

The MBC stands for “Minimal Bounding Correlation.” It is a statistical measure used to estimate the smallest bounding correlation coefficient between two variables.

Q: What does MIC stand for?

Answer:

The MIC stands for “Maximal Information Coefficient.” It is a statistical measure used to quantify the strength and complexity of the relationships between two variables considering both linear & non-linear dependencies.

Q: What is the main difference between MBC and MIC?

Answer:

The main difference lies in their objectives and applications. MBC focuses on estimating the minimum possible correlation between two variables. while MIC aims to capture the strongest & most complex relationships including non-linear dependencies.