School of Life Science, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China.
Department of Electronic Engineering and Information Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China.
ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2022 May 9;8(5):2066-2075. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.2c00051. Epub 2022 Apr 8.
Cryopreservation of red blood cells (RBCs) plays a vital role in preserving rare blood and serologic testing, which is essential for clinical transfusion medicine. The main difficulties of the current cryopreservation technique are the high glycerol concentration and the tedious deglycerolization procedure after thawing. In this study, we explored a microencapsulation method for cryopreservation. RBC-hydrogel microcapsules with a diameter of approximately 2.184 ± 0.061 mm were generated by an electrostatic spraying device. Then, 0.7 M trehalose was used as a cryoprotective agent (CPA), and microcapsules were adhered to a stainless steel grid for liquid nitrogen freezing. The results show that compared with the RBCs frozen by cryovials, the recovery of RBCs after microencapsulation is significantly improved, up to a maximum of more than 85%. Additionally, the washing process can be completed using only 0.9% NaCl. After washing, the RBCs maintained their morphology and adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) levels and met clinical transfusion standards. The microencapsulation method provides a promising, referenceable, and more practical strategy for future clinical transfusion medicine.
红细胞（RBC）的冷冻保存在保存稀有血液和血清学检测方面发挥着至关重要的作用，这对于临床输血医学来说是必不可少的。目前冷冻保存技术的主要难点是甘油浓度高，以及解冻后繁琐的去甘油化过程。在本研究中，我们探索了一种红细胞的微囊化冷冻保存方法。采用静电喷雾装置生成直径约为 2.184±0.061mm 的 RBC-水凝胶微囊。然后，使用 0.7M 海藻糖作为冷冻保护剂（CPA），将微囊附着在不锈钢网格上进行液氮冷冻。结果表明，与用 cryovials 冷冻的 RBC 相比，微囊化后的 RBC 回收率显著提高，最高可达 85%以上。此外，仅使用 0.9%NaCl 即可完成洗涤过程。洗涤后，RBC 的形态和三磷酸腺苷（ATP）水平保持不变，符合临床输血标准。微囊化方法为未来的临床输血医学提供了一种有前途、可参考且更实用的策略。
