Cryopreservation of Stem Cells

Abstract

With the rapid increase in the use of stem cells in the field of regenerative medicine and drug discovery, efficient methods for preservation of stem cells to ensure the requirement for manufacturing and distribution and to successfully bring stem cell products into the market would be tremendously useful. Two different cryopreservation methods, slow freezing and vitrification, have been used in the cryopreservation of cells for long-term storage. Human embryonic stem (hES) cells have been successfully cryopreserved using vitrification. However, due to the low cell number handled in vitrification, the development of a slow-freezing protocol, which can be easily scaled up, is critical for mass cryopreservation of hES cells to satisfy the widespread applications in the clinical area. Although a conventional cryopreservation method using 10% dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) as a cryoprotectant is routinely performed for cryopreservation of adult stem cells. It is ideal to develop a cryopreservation protocol with less-toxic DMSO, well -defined, and serum free to avoid the side effects during stem cell transplantation.