The efficiency of culture media was compared for the culture and subculture of very slowly growing acid-fast bacilli and spheroplast forms obtained from intestinal tissues of patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis and from controls without inflammatory bowel disease. Media were developed by modifying a nutrient broth medium based on veal infusion broth and yeast extract. We evaluated the effects of pH and the addition of Tween 80, Dubo oleic albumin complex, an extract from intestinal tissue from a patient with Crohn's disease, horse serum, sucrose, magnesium sulfate, ferrous ammonium sulfate, and sodium citrate. All media contained mycobactin J (2 micrograms/ml). We developed a medium (MG3) which was highly successful in promoting the growth of very fastidious organisms and promoted reversion of spheroplasts to acid-fast rods. MG3 contained veal infusion broth, 1% yeast extract, 10% horse serum, 0.3 M sucrose, 0.2% MgSO4, 0.1% ferrous ammonium sulfate, 0.1% sodium citrate, and 2 mg of mycobactin J per liter. We were able to obtain quantities of organisms sufficient for examination of the organisms by molecular techniques. Successful cultivation of all isolates and reversion of spheroplasts to acid-fast forms encourage further studies of the possibility of a complex association of mycobacteria and Crohn's disease.