Abstract
One of the major challenges in the preservation of complex tissues is the cryosensitivity of the endothelium, the single layer of cells lining blood vessels, corneas, and other tissues. The increasing importance of endothelial monolayers in tissue-engineered constructs for transplantation and research warrants the need to develop protocols for the successful cryopreservation of cells in monolayers. In this chapter, we describe a recently published cryopreservation protocol that we developed based on examination of various factors that influence the post-thaw recovery of endothelial monolayers. To efficiently investigate cryopreservation protocol parameters, we employed an interrupted slow-cooling procedure (graded freezing) that allows dissecting loss of cell viability into contributions from slow-cooling injury and rapid-cooling injury. Our optimized protocol involves culturing cells on Rinzl plastic coverslips, using a combination of a penetrating cryoprotectant (5% dimethyl sulfoxide) and a non-penetrating cryoprotectant (6% hydroxyethyl starch), addition of 2% chondroitin sulfate, controlled cooling at 0.2 °C/min or 1 °C/min, and removal of cryoprotectant immediately after thaw. The protocol has been validated for human umbilical vein and porcine corneal endothelial cell monolayers.
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Acknowledgments
Development of this protocol and preparation of this book chapter were funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR MOP: 133684). N. Eskandari received a scholarship from the University of Alberta. J.A.W. Elliott holds a Canada Research Chair in Thermodynamics.
Conflict disclosure: A patent is being sought.
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Marquez-Curtis, L.A., Eskandari, N., McGann, L.E., Elliott, J.A.W. (2021). Protocol for Cryopreservation of Endothelial Monolayers. In: Wolkers, W.F., Oldenhof, H. (eds) Cryopreservation and Freeze-Drying Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2180. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-0783-1_30
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-0783-1_30
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Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-0783-1
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