Replacement of serum with ocular fluid for cryopreservation of immature testes

Alternative to FBS in animal cell culture - An overview and future perspective

Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is a widely used growth supplement in the in vitro culturing of animal and human cells, tissues and organs, notably due to the occurrence of abundant micro- and macronutrients, along with growth factors. Over the years, increasing demand, high price, batch-to-batch variability in quality and composition, increasing ethical concerns lead to the search for an alternative to FBS. Several approaches have been suggested and employed in the past, but none is implemented as widely as FBS, and each supplement has its own disadvantages. In this review, we described the importance of FBS in cell culture, discussed the issues associated with FBS use and presented the efforts made in the recent past to reduce or replace FBS. The potential of four different alternative sources to FBS, namely, bovine ocular fluid, sericin protein, human platelet lysate and earthworm heat inactivated coelomic fluid was evaluated. In the end, we present the conceptual perspective using the Human Platelet Lysate (HPL) and earthworm Heat Inactivated Coelomic Fluid (HI-CF) combination to alternate FBS and its context in scientific and economic impacts.

Trehalose protects testicular tissue of dairy goat upon cryopreservation

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the addition of trehalose to cryomedia reduces cellular damage and improves gene expression in cryopreserved dairy goat testicular tissues. Testicular tissues were cryopreserved in cryomedia without or with trehalose at a concentration of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% or 25%. Cryopreserved testicular tissues were analysed for TUNEL-positive cell number, expression of BAX, BCL-2, CREM, BOULE and HSP70-2. Isolated Leydig cells from cryopreserved tissue were cultured, and spent medium was evaluated for testosterone level. The results showed that though the TUNEL-positive cell number increased in cryopreserved testicular tissues, the presence of trehalose reduced apoptotic cell number significantly. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction results showed that although the expression of BAX was upregulated following cryopreservation, the presence of trehalose downregulates it in cryopreserved testicular tissues. Expression of BCL-2, CREM, BOULE and HSP70-2 was downregulated following cryopreservation but the presence of trehalose significantly upregulated their expression in cryopreserved testicular tissues. Leydig cells isolated from testicular tissues cryopreserved with trehalose produced higher testosterone than the one without it (control). These results suggest that trehalose has a protective role in cryopreservation of dairy goat testicular tissue, and the most suitable trehalose concentration for cryopreservation is 15%.