Storing blood to be used for culturing bacteria - (Oct/22/2009 )

I'm having some trouble finding info on storing blood samples that will be used for culturing bacteria.

1. How long will the bacteria remain viable at -70C, -20C, and 4C?
2. What is the best temperature for long-term storage?

Thanks so much!

I do not follow you completely,

you want to store the bacteria in the blood ? Or?

Or you are going to store the bacteria seperated from the blood?

Sorry, let me clarify. The bacteria are inside the blood cells, so I will be culturing whole blood. I am wondering how long I could keep these blood samples at these temperatures. For example, if I left the blood samples at 4C for a week, would the bacteria be dead?

Wont the blood clot?? (i presume it has been treated with anto clotting agents)

If you are going to store the bacteria in a special -80°C freezer (glycerol stock), you should first snap-freeze the bacterial stock by dropping it in a container of liquid nitrogen. If you are storing the bacteria in a regular -20°C freezer, the bacterial stock can be placed there with no further treatment.
Lyophilization is another good means of long term storage (with DMSO)

Only think that i am not sure of is how good blood behaves in a freezer cause normally blood is fractionated and then stored in freezers or cold rooms.