Membrane permeability coefficients of murine primary neural brain cells in the presence of cryoprotectant

Winter is coming: the future of cryopreservation

The preservative effects of low temperature on biological materials have been long recognised, and cryopreservation is now widely used in biomedicine, including in organ transplantation, regenerative medicine and drug discovery. The lack of organs for transplantation constitutes a major medical challenge, stemming largely from the inability to preserve donated organs until a suitable recipient is found. Here, we review the latest cryopreservation methods and applications. We describe the main challenges-scaling up to large volumes and complex tissues, preventing ice formation and mitigating cryoprotectant toxicity-discuss advantages and disadvantages of current methods and outline prospects for the future of the field.

A highly-occupied, single-cell trapping microarray for determination of cell membrane permeability

Semi- and selective permeability is a fundamentally important characteristic of the cell membrane. Membrane permeability can be determined by monitoring the volumetric change of cells following exposure to a non-isotonic environment. For this purpose, several microfluidic perfusion chambers have been developed recently. However, these devices only allow the observation of one single cell or a group of cells that may interact with one another in an uncontrolled way. Some of these devices have integrated on-chip temperature control to investigate the temperature-dependence of membrane permeability, but they inevitably require sophisticated fabrication and assembly, and delicate temperature and pressure calibration. Therefore, it is highly desirable to design a simple single-cell trapping device that allows parallel monitoring of multiple separate, individual cells subjected to non-isotonic exposure at various temperatures. In this study, we developed a pumpless, single-layer microarray with high trap occupancy of single cells. The benchmark performance of the device was conducted by targeting spherical particles of 18.8 μm in diameter as a model, yielding trap occupancy of up to 86.8% with a row-to-row shift of 10-30 μm. It was also revealed that in each array the particles larger than a corresponding critical size would be excluded by the traps in a deterministic lateral displacement mode. Demonstrating the utility of this approach, we used the single-cell trapping device to determine the membrane permeability of rat hepatocytes and patient-derived circulating tumor cells (Brx-142) at 4, 22 and 37 °C. The membrane of rat hepatocytes was found to be highly permeable to water and small molecules such as DMSO and glycerol, via both lipid- and aquaporin-mediated pathways. Brx-142 cells, however, displayed lower membrane permeability than rat hepatocytes, which was associated with strong coupling of water and DMSO transport but less interaction between water and glycerol. The membrane permeability data reported here provide new insights into the biophysics of membrane transport such as aquaporin expression and coupling transport of water and solutes, as well as providing essential data for the ultimate goal of biobanking rare cells and precious tissues.

Cell membrane permeability coefficients determined by single-step osmotic shift are not applicable for optimization of multi-step addition of cryoprotective agents: As revealed by HepG2 cells

HepG2 cells have a number of research applications and cryopreservation of these cells would improve supply and thus facilitate the study. Development of effective cryopreservation protocols relies on knowledges of the fundamental mass transport characteristics of HepG2 cell membrane. Currently, the permeability parameters estimated from single-step addition are routinely used to predict the osmotic responses of the cells in multistep protocols, as well as used for prediction of optimal cooling rates. However, the reasonability of this approach has not been rigorously studied. Here we measured the hydraulic conductivity (L_p) and the permeability coefficient (P_s) of HepG2 cells in the absence/presence of dimethyl sulfoxide (Me₂SO) at various temperatures with single and multistep addition of Me₂SO. We found that the permeability yielded via one-step addition of the Me₂SO cannot exactly predict the volume change of the cells when the CPA was added in multiple steps.

Cryopreservation of GABAergic Neuronal Precursors for Cell-Based Therapy

Cryopreservation protocols are essential for stem cells storage in order to apply them in the clinic. Here we describe a new standardized cryopreservation protocol for GABAergic neural precursors derived from the medial glanglionic eminence (MGE), a promising source of GABAergic neuronal progenitors for cell therapy against interneuron-related pathologies. We used 10% Me₂SO as cryoprotectant and assessed the effects of cell culture amplification and cellular organization, as in toto explants, neurospheres, or individualized cells, on post-thaw cell viability and retrieval. We confirmed that in toto cryopreservation of MGE explants is an optimal preservation system to keep intact the interneuron precursor properties for cell transplantation, together with a high cell viability (>80%) and yield (>70%). Post-thaw proliferation and self-renewal of the cryopreserved precursors were tested in vitro. In addition, their migration capacity, acquisition of mature neuronal morphology, and potency to differentiate into multiple interneuron subtypes were also confirmed in vivo after transplantation. The results show that the cryopreserved precursor features remained intact and were similar to those immediately transplanted after their dissection from the MGE. We hope this protocol will facilitate the generation of biobanks to obtain a permanent and reliable source of GABAergic precursors for clinical application in cell-based therapies against interneuronopathies.

Clinical trials of neural transplantation in Huntington's disease

Clinical neural transplantation in Huntington's disease has moved forward as a series of small studies, which have provided some preliminary proof of principle that neural transplantation can provide benefit. However, to date, such benefits have not been robust, and there are a number of important issues that need to be addressed. These include defining the optimum donor tissue conditions and host characteristics in order to produce reliable benefit in transplant recipients, and whether, and for how long, immunosuppression is needed. Further clinical studies will be required to address these, and other issues, in order to better understand the processes leading to a properly functioning neural graft. Such studies will pave the way for future clinical trials of renewable donor sources, in particular, stem cell-derived neuronal progenitor grafts.