1. Me2SO- and serum-free cryopreservation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells using electroporation-assisted delivery of sugars
- Author
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Igor I. Katkov, Oleksandr Gryshkov, Vitalii Mutsenko, Barbara Dovgan, Ariana Barlič, Janja Dermol-Černe, Damijan Miklavčič, Bulat Sydykov, Willem F. Wolkers, Tamara Pezić, and Birgit Glasmacher
- Subjects
030219 obstetrics & reproductive medicine ,Cryoprotectant ,Dimethyl sulfoxide ,Electroporation ,Mesenchymal stem cell ,0402 animal and dairy science ,04 agricultural and veterinary sciences ,General Medicine ,040201 dairy & animal science ,Trehalose ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Cryopreservation ,Cell biology ,03 medical and health sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,0302 clinical medicine ,chemistry ,Propidium iodide ,General Agricultural and Biological Sciences ,Fetal bovine serum - Abstract
Cryopreservation is the universal technology used to enable long-term storage and continuous availability of cell stocks and tissues for regenerative medicine demands. The main components of standard freezing media are dimethyl sulfoxide (hereinafter Me2SO) and fetal bovine serum (FBS). However, for manufacturing of cells and tissue-engineered products in accordance with the principles of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), current considerations in regenerative medicine suggest development of Me2SO- and serum-free biopreservation strategies due to safety concerns over Me2SO-induced side effects and immunogenicity of animal serum. In this work, the effect of electroporation-assisted pre-freeze delivery of sucrose, trehalose and raffinose into human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) on their post-thaw survival was investigated. The optimal strength of electric field at 8 pulses with 100 μs duration and 1 Hz pulse repetition frequency was determined to be 1.5 kV/cm from permeabilization (propidium iodide uptake) vs. cell recovery data (resazurin reduction assay). Using sugars as sole cryoprotectants with electroporation, concentration-dependent increase in cell survival was observed. Irrespective of sugar type, the highest cell survival (up to 80%) was achieved at 400 mM extracellular concentration and electroporation. Cell freezing without electroporation yielded significantly lower survival rates. In the optimal scenario, cells were able to attach 24 h after thawing demonstrating characteristic shape and sugar-loaded vacuoles. Application of 10% Me2SO/90% FBS as a positive control provided cell survival exceeding 90%. Next, high glass transition temperatures determined for optimal concentrations of sugars by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) suggest the possibility to store samples at −80 °C. In summary, using electroporation to incorporate cryoprotective sugars into cells is an effective strategy towards Me2SO- and serum-free cryopreservation and may pave the way for further progress in establishing clinically safe biopreservation strategies for efficient long-term biobanking of cells.
- Published
- 2019
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