Effect of various freezing solutions on cryopreservation of mesenchymal stem cells from different animal species

The objective of this study is to compare the effects of different well defined freezing solutions with a reduced concentration of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) combined with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and/or trehalose on cryopreservation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from mice, rats and calves. Post-thaw cell viability, proliferation capacity and differentiation potential of MSCs from different species were assessed after cryopreservation with the conventional slow freezing method. Although the post-thaw viabilities and metabolic activities varied among the different species, satisfactory results were obtained with 5 percent (v/v) DMSO, 2 percent (w/v) PEG, 3 percent (w/v) trehalose and 2 percent (w/v) bovine serum albumin (BSA) as the freezing solution. Our results showed that mouse MSCs were more robust to cryopreservation compared with rat and bovine MSCs.