Department of Electronic Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Department of Quality Control, Hefei Blood Center, Hefei, China.
Biopreserv Biobank. 2020 Jun;18(3):228-234. doi: 10.1089/bio.2020.0003. Epub 2020 Apr 21.
Cryopreservation of red blood cells (RBCs) has been studied as a typical example of cryobiology methodology. To date, a mature and long-term cryopreservation process for RBCs has been developed, which has the weakness of complicated procedures due to high concentrations of glycerol (Gly). Therefore, it is still a research focus to find a new method for cryopreservation of RBCs to reduce the concentrations of cryoprotectants (CPAs). In this study, alginate hydrogels, which have been widely used in preservation research, were selected because of their advantages such as lower cost, cytocompatibility, and crosslinking occurring under mild conditions. With a variety of CPA solutions, the RBC recovery with the cryopreservation of RBCs and RBC-laden hydrogel microfibers was compared in different situations. It was found that hydrogel microfiber encapsulation enhances cryopreservation of human RBCs with low concentrations of CPAs. And Gly can be removed by washing directly with a 0.9% sodium chloride solution. This study validated the feasibility of cryopreservation of RBC-laden hydrogel microfibers. It may provide a new and evolving direction for reducing the concentrations of CPAs used in the preservation of RBCs.
红细胞（RBC）的冷冻保存一直被作为低温生物学方法的典型范例进行研究。迄今为止，已经开发出一种成熟且长期的 RBC 冷冻保存方法，但由于甘油（Gly）浓度较高，该方法存在程序复杂的缺点。因此，寻找一种新的 RBC 冷冻保存方法以降低冷冻保护剂（CPA）的浓度仍然是研究重点。在这项研究中，由于海藻酸盐水凝胶具有成本低、细胞相容性好、交联条件温和等优点，因此被选择用于保存研究。使用各种 CPA 溶液，在不同情况下比较了 RBC 冷冻保存和 RBC 负载水凝胶微纤维的 RBC 回收率。结果发现，水凝胶微纤维包封增强了低浓度 CPAs 下的人 RBC 冷冻保存效果，并且可以直接用 0.9%氯化钠溶液洗涤去除 Gly。本研究验证了 RBC 负载水凝胶微纤维冷冻保存的可行性，为降低 RBC 保存中所用 CPA 的浓度提供了新的、不断发展的方向。
