Culturing with trehalose produces viable endothelial cells after cryopreservation

Dimethylsulfoxide, the most commonly employed cryoprotectant for cells, has well documented cytotoxic effects in patients. Among the compounds available that may provide protection to cells and tissues during preservation with less cytotoxicity is trehalose. Some animals, such as brine shrimp and tardigrades, accumulate trehalose during periods of extreme environmental stress. In this study, experiments were performed to evaluate the effects of culturing a bovine endothelial cell line (ATCC #CCL-209) in the presence of trehalose prior to preservation by freezing. A number of factors were shown to contribute to cell retention of metabolic activity and proliferative potential including cell culture time with trehalose and the solution conditions during cryopreservation. Using an optimized protocol consisting of 24 h of cell culture with 0.2 M trehalose followed by cryopreservation with 0.2–0.4 M trehalose in sodium bicarbonate buffered Eagles minimum essential medium at pH 7.4 resulted in 87 ± 4% post-preservation cell metabolic activity expressed as relative fluorescence based upon reduction of resazurin to resorufin. This new method provides an alternative preservation strategy to the more classical preservation methods employing dimethylsulfoxide available for cells and tissues.