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Cryobiology Jun 2017Cryopreservation has become a central technology in many areas of clinical medicine, biotechnology, and species conservation within both plant and animal biology.... (Review)
Review
Cryopreservation has become a central technology in many areas of clinical medicine, biotechnology, and species conservation within both plant and animal biology. Cryoprotective agents (CPAs) invariably play key roles in allowing cells to be processed for storage at deep cryogenic temperatures and to be recovered with high levels of appropriate functionality. As such, these CPA solutes possess a wide range of metabolic and biophysical effects that are both necessary for their modes of action, and potentially complicating for cell biological function. Early successes with cryopreservation were achieved by empirical methodology for choosing and applying CPAs. In recent decades, it has been possible to assemble objective information about CPA modes of action and to optimize their application to living systems, but there still remain significant gaps in our understanding. This review sets out the current status on the biological and chemical knowledge surrounding CPAs, and the conflicting effects of protection versus toxicity resulting from the use of these solutes, which are often required in molar concentrations, far exceeding levels found in normal metabolism. The biophysical properties of CPAs that allow them to facilitate different approaches to cryogenic storage, including vitrification, are highlighted. The topics are discussed with reference to the historical background of applying CPAs, and the relevance of cryoprotective solutes in natural freeze tolerant organisms. Improved cryopreservation success will be an essential step in many future areas such as regenerative medicine, seed banking, or stem cell technology. To achieve this, we will need to further improve our understanding of cryobiology, where better and safer CPAs will be key requirements.
Topics: Animals; Antifreeze Proteins; Cell Physiological Phenomena; Cryopreservation; Cryoprotective Agents; Freezing; Humans; Ice; Organ Preservation; Solutions; Vitrification
PubMed: 28428046
DOI: 10.1016/j.cryobiol.2017.04.004 -
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and... Jul 2018
Topics: Cryobiology; Cryopreservation; Humans; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted
PubMed: 30030713
DOI: 10.1007/s10815-018-1269-3 -
Cryobiology Dec 2015We describe here a new cryobiological and neurobiological technique, aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation (ASC), which demonstrates the relevance and utility of advanced...
We describe here a new cryobiological and neurobiological technique, aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation (ASC), which demonstrates the relevance and utility of advanced cryopreservation science for the neurobiological research community. ASC is a new brain-banking technique designed to facilitate neuroanatomic research such as connectomics research, and has the unique ability to combine stable long term ice-free sample storage with excellent anatomical resolution. To demonstrate the feasibility of ASC, we perfuse-fixed rabbit and pig brains with a glutaraldehyde-based fixative, then slowly perfused increasing concentrations of ethylene glycol over several hours in a manner similar to techniques used for whole organ cryopreservation. Once 65% w/v ethylene glycol was reached, we vitrified brains at -135 °C for indefinite long-term storage. Vitrified brains were rewarmed and the cryoprotectant removed either by perfusion or gradual diffusion from brain slices. We evaluated ASC-processed brains by electron microscopy of multiple regions across the whole brain and by Focused Ion Beam Milling and Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB-SEM) imaging of selected brain volumes. Preservation was uniformly excellent: processes were easily traceable and synapses were crisp in both species. Aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation has many advantages over other brain-banking techniques: chemicals are delivered via perfusion, which enables easy scaling to brains of any size; vitrification ensures that the ultrastructure of the brain will not degrade even over very long storage times; and the cryoprotectant can be removed, yielding a perfusable aldehyde-preserved brain which is suitable for a wide variety of brain assays.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Cryopreservation; Cryoprotective Agents; Ethylene Glycol; Glutaral; Rabbits; Swine; Tissue Banks; Vitrification
PubMed: 26408851
DOI: 10.1016/j.cryobiol.2015.09.003 -
Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) Apr 2023Cryopreservation is a unique and practical method to facilitate extended access to biological materials. Because of this, cryopreservation of cells, tissues, and organs... (Review)
Review
Cryopreservation is a unique and practical method to facilitate extended access to biological materials. Because of this, cryopreservation of cells, tissues, and organs is essential to modern medical science, including cancer cell therapy, tissue engineering, transplantation, reproductive technologies, and bio-banking. Among diverse cryopreservation methods, significant focus has been placed on vitrification due to low cost and reduced protocol time. However, several factors, including the intracellular ice formation that is suppressed in the conventional cryopreservation method, restrict the achievement of this method. To enhance the viability and functionality of biological samples after storage, a large number of cryoprotocols and cryodevices have been developed and studied. Recently, new technologies have been investigated by considering the physical and thermodynamic aspects of cryopreservation in heat and mass transfer. In this review, we first present an overview of the physiochemical aspects of freezing in cryopreservation. Secondly, we present and catalog classical and novel approaches that seek to capitalize on these physicochemical effects. We conclude with the perspective that interdisciplinary studies provide pieces of the cryopreservation puzzle to achieve sustainability in the biospecimen supply chain.
PubMed: 37237578
DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering10050508 -
BMC Biology Mar 2021The preservative effects of low temperature on biological materials have been long recognised, and cryopreservation is now widely used in biomedicine, including... (Review)
Review
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.
Topics: Cryopreservation; Cryoprotective Agents
PubMed: 33761937
DOI: 10.1186/s12915-021-00976-8 -
Lancet (London, England) Oct 2014Enhanced long-term survival rates of young women with cancer and advances in reproductive medicine and cryobiology have culminated in an increased interest in fertility... (Review)
Review
Enhanced long-term survival rates of young women with cancer and advances in reproductive medicine and cryobiology have culminated in an increased interest in fertility preservation methods in girls and young women with cancer. Present data suggest that young patients with cancer should be referred for fertility preservation counselling quickly to help with their coping process. Although the clinical application of novel developments, including oocyte vitrification and oocyte maturation in vitro, has resulted in reasonable success rates in assisted reproduction programmes, experience with these techniques in the setting of fertility preservation is in its infancy. It is hoped that these and other approaches, some of which are still regarded as experimental (eg, ovarian tissue cryopreservation, pharmacological protection against gonadotoxic agents, in-vitro follicle growth, and follicle transplantation) will be optimised and become established within the next decade. Unravelling the complex mechanisms of activation and suppression of follicle growth will not only expand the care of thousands of women diagnosed with cancer, but also inform the care of millions of women confronted with reduced reproductive fitness because of ageing.
Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Counseling; Cryopreservation; Female; Fertility Preservation; Humans; In Vitro Oocyte Maturation Techniques; Infertility, Female; Neoplasms; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted
PubMed: 25283571
DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60834-5 -
RoFo : Fortschritte Auf Dem Gebiete Der... Sep 2018Local ablative therapies have become an established treatment option in interventional oncology. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and microwave ablation (MWA) are a... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE
Local ablative therapies have become an established treatment option in interventional oncology. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and microwave ablation (MWA) are a standard of care in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Currently, there is an increasing interest in cryotherapy, one of the oldest ablation techniques. It has some unique characteristics with regard to technology and mechanism of action.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A systematic literature search using the terms cryotherapy, cryosurgery and cryoablation was performed. Selected studies are presented dealing with the mechanism of action, cryobiology and clinical use of percutaneous, image-guided cryoablation. Recent developments and perspectives are presented.
RESULTS
Cryotherapy is increasingly used and has been included in guidelines for selected tumor entities such as renal cell carcinoma. Cryo-immunotherapy and combination treatments are future areas of interest.
CONCLUSION
Cryoabalation may be used in many indications. Its major advantages are its unique visualization and the anesthesiologic effects of cold. While there are only a few prospectively randomized trials, the existing data on the use of cryoablation is promising. Its use appears to be justified in selected tumors, oligometastatic patients and for palliative indications.
KEY POINTS
· Interventionalists need to know about the unique characteristics and advantages of cryoablation.. · Proper patient selection and optimal image guidance are essential for successful cryotherapy.. · Cryoablation offers unique advantages such as anesthesiologic effects and characteristic imaging features.. · The lack of prospective randomized trials is a key disadvantage of cryoablation..
CITATION FORMAT
· Mahnken AH, König AM, Figiel JH. Current Technique and Application of Percutaneous Cryotherapy. Fortschr Röntgenstr 2018; 190: 836 - 846.
Topics: Bone Neoplasms; Breast Neoplasms; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung; Cryosurgery; Cryotherapy; Equipment Design; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Kidney Neoplasms; Liver Neoplasms; Lung Neoplasms; Male; Neoplasm Staging; Neoplasms; Patient Selection; Postoperative Complications; Prostatic Neoplasms; Soft Tissue Neoplasms; Surgery, Computer-Assisted
PubMed: 29665588
DOI: 10.1055/a-0598-5134 -
Animals : An Open Access Journal From... Dec 2022An urgent need to boost the sustainability and efficiency of animal production exists, owing to the growing global population. Enhancing the global fertility of animals,... (Review)
Review
An urgent need to boost the sustainability and efficiency of animal production exists, owing to the growing global population. Enhancing the global fertility of animals, especially cattle, is essential to ameliorate this issue. Artificial insemination and sperm cryopreservation have a considerable and favorable influence on the quantity and quality of the cattle produced. Sperm cryopreservation is crucial for livestock production because it promotes and accelerates genetic diversity and the worldwide dispersion of animals with enhanced genetics. Owing to the importance of cryobiology in reproductive technologies, researchers are developing new approaches, and they are testing cryoprotectant drugs to enhance sperm cryosurvival. However, the viability of sperm after freezing is low and widely varies across breeding yaks. These faults are crucial because they impede advances in reproductive biotechnology and the study of mammalian gametes at a fundamental level. Using chemicals, researchers have developed and enhanced various extenders with varying degrees of efficiency to reduce cryodamage and oxidative stress. In this article, we review the cryopreservation of yak semen, the development of extenders, the difficulties faced during cryopreservation, and the evaluation of semen quality using various methodologies. This review might be helpful for researchers exploring semen cryopreservation in the future, as demand for enhanced cryopreservation exists to boost the post-thaw viability and fertility of sperm.
PubMed: 36552371
DOI: 10.3390/ani12243451 -
Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation Oct 2018In this review, we discuss novel strategies that allow for extended preservation of vascularized composite allografts and their potential future clinical implications... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE OF REVIEW
In this review, we discuss novel strategies that allow for extended preservation of vascularized composite allografts and their potential future clinical implications for the field of vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA).
RECENT FINDINGS
The current gold standard in tissue preservation - static cold preservation on ice - is insufficient to preserve VCA grafts for more than a few hours. Advancements in the field of VCA regarding matching and allocation, desensitization, and potential tolerance induction are all within reasonable reach to achieve; these are, however, constrained by limited preservation time of VCA grafts. Although machine perfusion holds many advantages over static cold preservation, it currently does not elongate the preservation time. More extreme preservation techniques, such as cryopreservation approaches, are, however, specifically difficult to apply to composite tissues as the susceptibility to ischemia and cryoprotectant agents varies greatly by tissue type.
SUMMARY
In the current scope of extended preservation protocols, high subzero approaches of VCA grafts will be particularly critical enabling technologies for the implementation of tolerance protocols clinically. Ultimately, advances in both preservation techniques and tolerance induction have the potential to transform the field of VCA and eventually lead to broad applications in reconstructive transplantation.
Topics: Cryobiology; Humans; Organ Preservation; Perfusion; Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation
PubMed: 30080697
DOI: 10.1097/MOT.0000000000000567 -
Cryobiology Dec 2019Modeling coupled heat and mass transport in biological systems is critical to the understanding of cryobiology. In Part I of this series we derived the transport... (Review)
Review
Modeling coupled heat and mass transport in biological systems is critical to the understanding of cryobiology. In Part I of this series we derived the transport equation and presented a general thermodynamic derivation of the critical components needed to use the transport equation in cryobiology. Here we refine to more cryobiologically relevant instances of a double free-boundary problem with multiple species. In particular, we present the derivation of appropriate mass and heat transport constitutive equations for a system consisting of a cell or tissue with a free external boundary, surrounded by liquid media with an encroaching free solidification front. This model consists of two parts-namely, transport in the "bulk phases" away from boundaries, and interfacial transport. Here we derive the bulk and interfacial mass, energy, and momentum balance equations and present a simplification of transport within membranes to jump conditions across them. We establish the governing equations for this cell/liquid/solid system whose solution in the case of a ternary mixture is explored in Part III of this series.
Topics: Animals; Cell Membrane; Cryobiology; Cryopreservation; Hot Temperature; Ice; Thermodynamics
PubMed: 31589832
DOI: 10.1016/j.cryobiol.2019.09.014