Preservation of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells with Optimized Cryopreservation

To begin, dissociate the hESC-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells, prepare the cell suspension, and then count the cells. Now, centrifuge the cells at 250g for three minutes at room temperature. Pour out the supernatant, then, resuspend the cell pellet in cryopreservation medium.

Next, transfer one milliliter of the cell suspension to a 1.2-milliliter cryogenic vial. Place the cryogenic vials in a freezing container and freeze overnight at minus 80 degrees Celsius. Transfer the vials to liquid nitrogen for long-term storage.

To thaw the frozen vials, first heat the culture medium in metallic beads heated to 37 degrees Celsius, pre-fill 10 milliliters of the warmed culture medium into a 15-milliliter tube. Now, remove the cryogenic vials from the liquid nitrogen and place them in an automated thawing system for rapid thawing. Drop 0.5 to one milliliter of the preheated culture medium into the cryogenic vial to ensure gradual cell adaptation.

Then, pipet 1.5 to two milliliters of the cell suspension to the 15-milliliter tube with medium. Centrifuge the cells at 250g for three minutes at room temperature. Then, discard the supernatant.

Resuspend the pellet in two milliliters of warm medium. Load the cells in a hemocytometer and count them to determine the recovery and survival rates. Culture the thawed cells on basement membrane coated plates in a culture medium with Y27632.

The retinal pigment epithelial cells that were frozen on day five in their exponential phase displayed a higher attachment rate after thawing. Relative to their characteristic hexagonal morphology, the cells frozen at other time points had a fibroblastic phenotype. P2 day-five cells displayed higher expression and more properly localized cell markers 28 days after thawing.

It was noted that different cryopreservation media performed equally well in achieving high cell viability and attachment post-thawing.