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Objective: To explore the effects of cryopreservation on the cell survival rate, cell viability, early apoptosis, migration ability, and tendon-related marker expression of tendon-derived stem cells (TDSCs) in rat patellar tendons., Methods: The patellar tendon tissues were harvested from 12 4-month-old male Sprague Dawley rats; 12 patellar tendon tissues from 6 rats were cryopreserved (the experimental group), and the other 12 patellar tendon tissues were not treated (the control group). The patellar tendons were digested with 0.3% type I collagenase to obtain nucleated cells. The survival rate of nucleated cells was detected by trypan blue exclusion assay, and colony-forming ability by crystal violet staining. TDSCs were isolated and cultured to passage 3 (P3). The cell viability of TDSCs was detected by Alamar Blue method, the early apoptosis by Annexin V-FITC/PI assay, the cell migration ability by Transwell method, and the mRNA expressions of tendon-related markers [collagen type I (Col1α1), scleraxis (Scx), and tenomodulin (Tnmd)] by real-time quantitative PCR., Results: The survival rate of nucleated cells was 91.00%±3.63% in the control group, and was 61.65%±4.76% in the experimental group, showing significant difference ( t =12.010, P =0.000). The formation of the primary nucleated cell clones was observed in 2 groups. At 12 days, the number of colonies forming of the experimental group [(8.41±0.33)/1 000 nucleated cells] was significantly lower than that of the control group [(15.19±0.47)/1 000 nucleated cells] ( t =28.910, P =0.000). The percentage of TDSCs in the active nucleated cells in the experimental group (1.37%±0.09%) was significantly lower than that in the control group (1.67%±0.10%) ( t =5.508, P =0.003). The growth trend of TDSCs (P3) in the 2 groups was consistent within 14 days. There was no significant difference in absorbance ( A ) value between 2 groups at each time point ( P >0.05). The early apoptotic rate of TDSCs was 1.67%±0.06% in the experimental group and was 1.63%±0.06% in the control group, showing no significant difference ( t =0.707, P =0.519). Under microscope, TDSCs adhered to the lower chamber of the Transwell chamber; the number of cells was 445.00±9.70 in the experimental group and was 451.50±12.66 in the control group, showing no significant difference ( t =0.998, P =0.342). The relative mRNA expressions of Col1α1, Scx, and Tnmd were 3.498±0.065, 0.062±0.002, and (4.211±0.211)×10 -5 in the experimental group and were 3.499±0.113, 0.062±0.001, and (4.341±0.274)×10 -5 in the con-trol group, showing no significant difference ( t =0.013, P =0.991; t =0.042, P =0.969; t =0.653, P =0.549)., Conclusion: The survival rate of nucleated cells in cryopreserved rat tendon tissues is lower, but a large number of active TDSCs, and its cell viability, early apoptosis rate, migration ability in vitro , and cell tenogenic differentiation ability are remained.