Cryoconservation of Chicken Blastodermal Cells: Effects of Slow Freezing, Vitrification, Cryoprotectant Type and Thawing Method during In Vitro Processing

Cryoconservation of blastodermal cells (BCs) can preserve genetic material for the future reconstruction of poultry breeds. The aim of our study was to compare the effects of three slow freezing programs and vitrification, different cryoprotectants (5% DMSO, 10% DMSO, or multi-component cryoprotectant (MC) and two thawing methods on the viability of chicken BCs. Significant differences in the survival of slowly frozen BCs using program 3 (2°C/min. to 0.4°C/min.) compared with programs 1 (1°C/min. to 0.3°C/min.) and 2 (4°C/min. to 0.3°C/min.) were observed. The percentage of live BCs was significantly higher after slow freezing in the presence of the MC compared with DMSO. The thawing method did not have a significant effect on the percentage of live BCs. We also observed significant differences in the survival rate of BCs after vitrification (81%) and slow freezing in the presence of 10% DMSO using program 3 (60%). The highest percentage of viable BCs was achieved by slow freezing with the MC using program 2 and thawing with method 1 (94%). The most unfavorable combination for BCs survival was slow freezing in 5% DMSO using program 3 and thawing with method 2 (58.3%). This is the first study to apply MC to the slow freezing of BCs. We also showed successful BCs vitrification.