title: The individual-cell-based cryo-chip for the cryopreservation, manipulation and observation of spatially identifiable cells. I: methodology.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cryopreservation is the only widely applicable method of storing vital cells for nearly unlimited periods of time. Successful cryopreservation is essential for reproductive medicine, stem cell research, cord blood storage and related biomedical areas. The methods currently used to retrieve a specific cell or a group of individual cells with specific biological properties after cryopreservation are quite complicated and inefficient.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The present study suggests a new approach in cryopreservation, utilizing the Individual Cell-based Cryo-Chip (i3C). The i3C is made of materials having appropriate durability for cryopreservation conditions. The core of this approach is an array of picowells, each picowell designed to maintain an individual cell during the severe conditions of the freezing--thawing cycle and accompanying treatments. More than 97% of cells were found to retain their position in the picowells throughout the entire freezing--thawing cycle and medium exchange. Thus the comparison between pre-freezing and post-thawing data can be achieved at an individual cell resolution. The intactness of cells undergoing slow freezing and thawing, while residing in the i3C, was found to be similar to that obtained with micro-vials. However, in a fast freezing protocol, the i3C was found to be far superior.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of the present study offer new opportunities for cryopreservation. Using the present methodology, the cryopreservation of individual identifiable cells, and their observation and retrieval, at an individual cell resolution become possible for the first time. This approach facilitates the correlation between cell characteristics before and after the freezing--thawing cycle. Thus, it is expected to significantly enhance current cryopreservation procedures for successful regenerative and reproductive medicine.
authors.affiliation: The Biophysical Interdisciplinary Schottenstein Center for the Research and Technology of the Cellome, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel. motti.jsc@gmail.com
authors.forename: Mordechai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deutsch
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Afrimzon
authors.forename: Yaniv
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Namer
authors.forename: Yana
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shafran
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sobolev
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zurgil
authors.forename: Assaf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Deutsch
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Howitz
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Greuner
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thaele
authors.forename: Heiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
authors.forename: Ina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Meiser
authors.forename: Friederike
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ehrhart
mesh_terms: D002470:Cell Survival; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000379:methods*; D005615:Freezing / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D044968:Regenerative Medicine; D020298:U937 Cells