Protective effect of intracellular ice during freezing?

Injury results during freezing when cells are exposed to increasing concentrations of solutes or by the formation of intracellular ice. Methods to protect cells from the damaging effects of freezing have focused on the addition of cryoprotective chemicals and the determination of optimal cooling rates. Based on other studies of innocuous intracellular ice formation, this study investigates the potential for this ice to protect cells from injury during subsequent slow cooling. V-79W Chinese hamster fibroblasts and Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cells were cultured as single attached cells or confluent monolayers. The incidence of intracellular ice formation (IIF) in the cultures at the start of cooling was pre-determined using one of two different extracellular ice nucleation temperatures (-5 or -10 degrees C). Samples were then cooled at 1 degrees C/min to the experimental temperature (-5 to -40 degrees C) where samples were warmed rapidly and cell survival assessed using membrane integrity and metabolic activity. For single attached cells, the lower ice nucleation temperature, corresponding to increased incidence of IIF, resulted in decreased post-thaw cell recovery. In contrast, confluent monolayers in which IIF has been shown to be innocuous, show higher survival after cooling to temperatures as low as -40 degrees C, supporting the concept that intracellular ice confers cryoprotection by preventing cell dehydration during subsequent slow cooling.     

Characterization of intracellular ice formation in Drosophila melanogaster embryos

Cryomicroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to characterize the incidence of intracellular ice formation (IIF) in 12- to 13-hr-old embryos of Drosophila melanogaster (Oregon-R strain P2) as influenced by the state of the eggcase (untreated, dechorionated, or permeabilized), the composition of the suspending medium (with and without cryoprotectants), and the cooling rate. Untreated eggs underwent IIF over a very narrow temperature range when cooled at 4 or 16 degrees C/min with a median temperature of intracellular ice formation (TIIF50) of -28 degrees C. The freezable water volume of untreated eggs was approximately 5.4 nl as determined by DSC. IIF in dechorionated eggs occurred over a much broader temperature range (-13 to -31 degrees C), but the incidence of IIF increased sharply below -24 degrees C, and the cumulative incidence of IIF at -24 degrees C decreased with cooling rate. In permeabilized eggs without cryoprotectants (CPAs), IIF occurred at much warmer temperatures and over a much wider temperature range than in untreated eggs, and the TIIF50 was cooling rate dependent. At low cooling rates (1 to 2 degrees C/min), TIIF50 increased with cooling rate; at intermediate cooling rates (2 to 16 degrees C/min), TIIF50 decreased with cooling rate. The total incidence of IIF in permeabilized eggs was 54% at 1 degree C/min, and volumetric contraction almost always occurred during cooling. Decreasing the cooling rate to 0.5 degree C/min reduced the incidence of IIF to 43%. At a cooling rate of 4 degrees C/min, ethylene glycol reduced the TIIF50 by about 12 degrees C for each unit increase in molarity of CPA (up to 2.0 M) in the suspending medium. The TIIF50 was cooling rate dependent when embryos were preequilibrated with 1.0 M propylene glycol or ethylene glycol, but was not so in 1.0 M DMSO. For embryos equilibrated in 1.5 M ethylene glycol and then held at -5 degrees C for 1 min before further cooling at 1 degree C/min, the incidence of IIF was decreased to 31%. Increasing the duration of the isothermal hold to 10 min reduced the incidence of IIF to 22% and reduced the volume of freezable water in embryos when intracellular ice formation occurred. If the isothermal hold temperature was -7.5 or -10 degrees C, a 10- to 30-min holding time was required to achieve a comparable reduction in the incidence of IIF.     

Intracellular ice formation in mouse oocytes subjected to interrupted rapid cooling

The formation of ice crystals within cells (IIF) is lethal. The classical approach to avoiding it is to cool cells slowly enough so that nearly all their supercooled freezable water leaves the cell osmotically before they have cooled to a temperature that permits IIF. An alternative approach is to cool the cell rapidly to just above its ice nucleation temperature, and hold it there long enough to permit dehydration. Then, the cell is cooled rapidly to -70 degrees C or below. This approach, often called interrupted rapid cooling, is the subject of this paper. Mouse oocytes were suspended in 1.5M ethylene glycol (EG)/PBS, rapidly cooled (50 degrees C/min) to -25 degrees C and held for 5, 10, 20, 30, or 40 min before being rapidly cooled (50 degrees C/min) to -70 degrees C. In cells held for 5 min, IIF (flashing) occurred abruptly during the second rapid cool. As the holding period was increased to 10 and 20 min, fewer cells flashed during the cooling and more turned black during warming. Finally, when the oocytes were held 30 or 40 min, relatively few flashed during either cooling or warming. Immediately upon thawing, these oocytes were highly shrunken and crenated. However, upon warming to 20 degrees C, they regained most of their normal volume, shape, and appearance. These oocytes have intact cell membranes, and we refer to them as survivors. We conclude that 30 min at -25 degrees C removes nearly all intracellular freezable water, the consequence of which is that IIF occurs neither during the subsequent rapid cooling to -70 degrees C nor during warming.     

Effect of warming rate on the survival of vitrified mouse oocytes and on the recrystallization of intracellular ice

Successful cryopreservation demands there be little or no intracellular ice. One procedure is classical slow equilibrium freezing, and it has been successful in many cases. However, for some important cell types, including some mammalian oocytes, it has not. For the latter, there are increasing attempts to cryopreserve them by vitrification. However, even if intracellular ice formation (IIF) is prevented during cooling, it can still occur during the warming of a vitrified sample. Here, we examine two aspects of this occurrence in mouse oocytes. One took place in oocytes that were partly dehydrated by an initial hold for 12 min at -25 degrees C. They were then cooled rapidly to -70 degrees C and warmed slowly, or they were warmed rapidly to intermediate temperatures and held. These oocytes underwent no IIF during cooling but blackened from IIF during warming. The blackening rate increased about 5-fold for each five-degree rise in temperature. Upon thawing, they were dead. The second aspect involved oocytes that had been vitrified by cooling to -196 degrees C while suspended in a concentrated solution of cryoprotectants and warmed at rates ranging from 140 degrees C/min to 3300 degrees C/min. Survivals after warming at 140 degrees C/min and 250 degrees C/min were low (<30%). Survivals after warming at > or =2200 degrees C/min were high (80%). When warmed slowly, they were killed, apparently by the recrystallization of previously formed small internal ice crystals. The similarities and differences in the consequences of the two types of freezing are discussed.     

Stabilization of frozen Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus in glycerol suspensions: Freezing kinetics and storage temperature effects

The interactions between freezing kinetics and subsequent storage temperatures and their effects on the biological activity of lactic acid bacteria have not been examined in studies to date. This paper investigates the effects of three freezing protocols and two storage temperatures on the viability and acidification activity of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus CFL1 in the presence of glycerol. Samples were examined at -196 degrees C and -20 degrees C by freeze fracture and freeze substitution electron microscopy. Differential scanning calorimetry was used to measure proportions of ice and glass transition temperatures for each freezing condition tested. Following storage at low temperatures (-196 degrees C and -80 degrees C), the viability and acidification activity of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus decreased after freezing and were strongly dependent on freezing kinetics. High cooling rates obtained by direct immersion in liquid nitrogen resulted in the minimum loss of acidification activity and viability. The amount of ice formed in the freeze-concentrated matrix was determined by the freezing protocol, but no intracellular ice was observed in cells suspended in glycerol at any cooling rate. For samples stored at -20 degrees C, the maximum loss of viability and acidification activity was observed with rapidly cooled cells. By scanning electron microscopy, these cells were not observed to contain intracellular ice, and they were observed to be plasmolyzed. It is suggested that the cell damage which occurs in rapidly cooled cells during storage at high subzero temperatures is caused by an osmotic imbalance during warming, not the formation of intracellular ice.     

Is intracellular ice formation the cause of death of mouse sperm frozen at high cooling rates?

Mouse spermatozoa in 18% raffinose and 3.8% Oxyrase in 0.25 x PBS exhibit high motilities when frozen to -70 degrees C at 20-130 degrees C/min and then rapidly warmed. However, survival is <10% when they are frozen at 260 or 530 degrees C/min, presumably because, at those high rates, intracellular water cannot leave rapidly enough to prevent extensive supercooling and this supercooling leads to nucleation and freezing in situ (intracellular ice formation [IIF]). The probability of IIF as a function of cooling rate can be computed by coupled differential equations that describe the extent of the loss of cell water during freezing and from knowledge of the temperature at which the supercooled protoplasm of the cell can nucleate. Calculation of the kinetics of dehydration requires values for the hydraulic conductivity (Lp) of the cell and for its activation energy (Ea). Using literature values for these parameters in mouse sperm, we calculated curves of water volume versus temperature for four cooling rates between 250 and 2000 degrees C/min. The intracellular nucleation temperature was inferred to be -20 degrees C or above based on the greatly reduced motilities of sperm that underwent rapid cooling to a minimum temperature of between -20 and -70 degrees C. Combining that information regarding nucleation temperature with the computed dehydration curves leads to the conclusion that intracellular freezing should occur only in cells that are cooled at 2000 degrees C/min and not in cells that are cooled at 250-1000 degrees C/min. The calculated rate of 2000 degrees C/min for IIF is approximately eightfold higher than the experimentally inferred value of 260 degrees C/min. Possible reasons for the discrepancy are discussed.     

Extra- and intracellular ice formation in mouse oocytes

The occurrence of intracellular ice formation (IIF) during freezing, or the lack there of, is the single most important factor determining whether or not cells survive cryopreservation. One important determinant of IIF is the temperature at which a supercooled cell nucleates. To avoid intracellular ice formation, the cell must be cooled slowly enough so that osmotic dehydration eliminates nearly all cell supercooling before reaching that temperature. This report is concerned with factors that determine the nucleation temperature in mouse oocytes. Chief among these is the concentration of cryoprotective additive (here, glycerol or ethylene glycol). The temperature for IIF decreases from -14 degrees C in buffered isotonic saline (PBS) to -41 degrees C in 1M glycerol/PBS and 1.5M ethylene glycol/PBS. The latter rapidly permeates the oocyte; the former does not. The initial extracellular freezing at -3.9 to -7.8 degrees C, depending on the CPA concentration, deforms the cell. In PBS that deformation often leads to IIF; in CPA it does not. The oocytes are surrounded by a zona pellucida. That structure appears to impede the growth of external ice through it, but not to block it. In most cases, IIF is characterized by an abrupt blackening or flashing during cooling. But in some cases, especially with dezonated oocytes, a pale brown veil abruptly forms during cooling followed by slower blackening during warming. Above -30 degrees C, flashing occurs in a fraction of a second. Below -30 degrees C, it commonly occurs much more slowly. We have observed instances where flashing is accompanied by the abrupt ejection of cytoplasm. During freezing, cells lie in unfrozen channels between the growing external ice. From phase diagram data, we have computed the fraction of water and solution that remains unfrozen at the observed flash temperatures and the concentrations of salt and CPA in those channels. The results are somewhat ambiguous as to which of these characteristics best correlates with IIF.     

Cryomicroscopic analysis of intracellular ice formation during freezing of mouse oocytes without cryoadditives

Kinetics of intracellular ice formation (IIF) under various freezing conditions was investigated for mouse oocytes at metaphase II obtained from B6D2F1 mice. A new cryostage with improved optical performance and "isothermal" temperature field was used for nucleation experiments. The maximum thermal gradient across the window was less than 0.1 degrees C/10 mm at sample temperatures near 0 degrees C. The dependence of IIF on the initial concentration of the suspending medium was found to be pronounced. The mean IIF temperatures were found to be -9.56, -12.49, -17.63, -22.20 degrees C for freezing at 120 degrees C/min in 200, 285, 510, and 735 mosm phosphate-buffered saline, respectively. For concentrations higher than 735 mosm, the kinetics of IIF showed a break point at approximately -31 degrees C. Below -31 degrees C, all the remaining unfrozen oocytes underwent IIF almost immediately over a temperature range of less than 3 degrees C. This dramatic shift in the kinetics of IIF suggests that there were two distinct mechanisms responsible for IIF during freezing. The effect of the cooling rate on the kinetics of IIF was also investigated in isotonic PBS. At 1 degrees C/min none of the oocytes contained ice, whereas, at 5 degrees C/min all the oocytes contained ice. The mean IIF temperatures for cooling rates between 1 and 120 degrees C/min were almost constant with an average of -12.82 +/- 0.6 degrees C (SEM). In addition, constant temperature experiments were conducted in isotonic PBS. The percentages of oocytes with IIF were 0, 50, 60, and 95% for -3.8, -6.4, -7.72, and -8.85 degrees C. In undercooling experiments, IIF was not observed until approximately -20 degrees C (at which temperature the whole suspension was frozen spontaneously), suggesting the involvement of the external ice in the initiation of IIF between approximately -5 and -31 degrees C during freezing of oocytes.     

Quantitative cryomicroscopic analysis of intracellular freezing of granulocytes without cryoadditive

Purified human granulocytes were frozen in isotonic saline at different constant cooling rates down to -60 degrees C and subsequently thawed on the thermally defined cryostage of a cryomicroscope. Cells monitored on videotape were examined with respect to cooling rate threshold, type, and temperature of intracellular ice formation during cooling and recrystallization during warming. Two apparently different mechanisms of intracellular ice formation (iif) were distinguished during cooling, i.e., "twitching" (no visible ice front) and "darkening" (diffuse ice front). Both types of iif are related to cooling rate and hence also to dehydration. Cooling rate thresholds and temperatures of intracellular recrystallization were determined. It was found that twitching iif occurs just about 6.3 to 7.4 degrees C above the homogeneous nucleation temperature, suggesting that it might be catalyzed by nucleators present within the cells. Darkening iif, on the other hand, was observed at much higher temperatures, i.e., 23.4 to 28.3 degrees C above the homogeneous nucleation temperature, which could possibly indicate a nucleation induced by extracellular ice crystals (at a cooling rate of 30 degrees K/min, however, darkening iif was observed to occur at a temperature lower than that required for twitching iif). The proposed mechanisms of cryoinjury are related to membrane integrity measurements presented in M. W. Scheiwe, Ch. K?rber, and S. Englich, Cryo-Letters, 5, 300-306, 1984.     

Cryomicroscopic observations of cattle embryos during freezing and thawing

A cryomicroscope was used to observe changes in the appearance of day 6 1 2 to 7 1 2 cattle embryos during cooling and warming in 1.4M glycerol/PBS. Embryos were cooled at various rates between 0.2 and 25 degrees C/min to temperatures between -25 and -60 degrees C and then cooled rapidly ( approximately 250 degrees C/min) to temperatures below -140 degrees C. The volume of the embryos calculated from the cross-sectional area during slow cooling decreased at -25 degrees C to about 50% of the isotonic volume. Fracture planes could be observed in the extracellular ice matrix surrounding the embryos after rapid cooling to approximately -140 degrees C. The fracture planes often touched the zona pellucida and sometimes caused cracks in the zona. Cracks in the zona pellucida were observed more often after rapid cooling from temperatures between -20 to -35 degrees C (9 13 ) than from temperatures between -36 to -60 degrees C (2 7 ). When embryos were warmed rapidly ( approximately 250 degrees C/min) from temperatures below -140 degrees C, no change was observed in the appearance of either the embryo or its surroundings except the melting of the extracellular ice. However, when embryos were warmed slowly (2 or 5 degrees C/min), a series of events was observed; first, at approximately -70 degrees C the cytoplasm and the extracellular space gradually darkened and reached maximum darkness at approximately -55 degrees C. Then, on continued slow warming, the dark material gradually disappeared and finally the large extracellular ice crystals melted.     

Calorimetric studies of freeze-induced dehydration of phospholipids.

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to determine the amount of water that freezes in an aqueous suspension of multilamellar dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) liposomes. The studies were performed with dehydrated suspensions (12-20 wt% water) and suspensions containing an excess of water (30-70 wt% water). For suspensions that contained > or = 18 wt% water, two ice-formation events were observed during cooling. The first was attributed to heterogeneous nucleation of extraliposomal ice; the second was attributed to homogeneous nucleation of ice within the liposomes. In suspensions with an initial water concentration between 13 and 16 wt%, ice formation occurred only after homogeneous nucleation at temperatures below -40 degrees C. In suspensions containing < 13 wt% water, ice formation during cooling was undetectable by DSC, however, an endotherm resulting from ice melting during warming was observed in suspensions containing > or = 12 wt% water. In suspensions containing < 12 wt% water, an endotherm corresponding to the melting of ice was not observed during warming. The amount of ice that formed in the suspensions was determined by using an improved procedure to calculate the partial area of the endotherm resulting from the melting of ice during warming. The results show that a substantial proportion of water associated with the polar headgroup of phosphatidylcholine can be removed by freeze-induced dehydration, but the amount of ice depends on the thermal history of the samples. For example, after cooling to -100 degrees C at rates > or = 10 degrees C/min, a portion of water in the suspension remains supercooled because of a decrease in the diffusion rate of water with decreasing temperature. A portion of this supercooled water can be frozen during subsequent freeze-induced dehydration of the liposomes under isothermal conditions at subfreezing storage temperature Ts. During isothermal storage at Ts > or = -40 degrees C, the amount of unfrozen water decreased with decreasing Ts and increasing time of storage. After 30 min of storage at Ts = -40 degrees C and subsequent cooling to -100 degrees C, the amount of water associated with the polar headgroups was < 0.1 g/g of DPPC. At temperatures > -50 degrees C, the amount of unfrozen water associated with the polar headgroups of DPPC decreased with decreasing temperature in a manner predicted from the desorption isotherm of DPPC. However, at lower temperatures, the amount of unfrozen water remained constant, in large part, because the unfrozen water underwent a liquid-to-glass transformation at a temperature between -50 degrees and -140 degrees C.     

Intracellular ice formation in yeast cells vs. cooling rate: Predictions from modeling vs. experimental observations by differential scanning calorimetry

To survive freezing, cells must not undergo internal ice formation during cooling. One vital factor is the cooling rate. The faster cells are cooled, the more their contents supercool, and at some subzero temperature that supercooled cytoplasm will freeze. The question is at what temperature? The relation between cooling rate and cell supercooling can be computed. Two important parameters are the water permeability (Lp) and its temperature dependence. To avoid intracellular ice formation (IIF), the supercooling must be eliminated by dehydration before the cell cools to its ice nucleation temperature. With an observed nucleation temperature of −25 °C, the modeling predicts that IIF should not occur in yeast cooled at <20 °C/min and it should occur with near certainty in cells cooled at ?30 °C/min. Experiments with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) confirmed these predictions closely. The premise with the DSC is that if there is no IIF, one should see only a single exotherm representing the freezing of the external water. If IIF occurs, one should see a second, lower temperature exotherm. A further test of whether this second exotherm is IIF is whether it disappears on repeated freezing. IIF disrupts the plasma membrane; consequently, in a subsequent freeze cycle, the cell can no longer supercool and will not exhibit a second exotherm. This proved to be the case at cooling rates >20 °C/min.     

Cryopreservation of isolated hepatocytes: intracellular ice formation under various chemical and physical conditions.

Kinetics of intracellular ice formation (IIF) for isolated rat hepatocytes was studied using a cryomicroscopy system. The effect of the cooling rate on IIF was investigated between 20 and 400 degrees C/min in isotonic solution. At 50 degrees C/min and below, none of the hepatocytes underwent IIF; whereas at 150 degrees C/min and above, IIF was observed throughout the entire hepatocyte population. The temperature at which 50% of hepatocytes showed IIF (50TIIF) was almost constant with an average value of -7.7 degrees C. Different behavior was seen in isothermal subzero holding temperatures in the presence of extracellular ice. 50TIIF from isothermal temperature experiments was approximately -5 degrees C as opposed to -7.7 degrees C for constant cooling rate experiments. These experiments clearly demonstrated both the time and temperature dependence of IIF. On the other hand, in cooling experiments in the absence of extracellular ice, IIF was not observed until approximately -20 degrees C (at which temperature the whole suspension was frozen spontaneously) suggesting the involvement of the external ice in the initiation of IIF. The effect of dimethyl sulfoxide (Me2SO) on IIF was also quantified. 50TIIF decreased from -7.7 degrees C in the absence of Me2SO to -16.8 degrees C in 2.0 M Me2SO for a cooling rate of 400 degrees C/min. However, the cooling rate (between 75 and 400 degrees C/min) did not significantly affect 50TIIF (-8.7 degrees C) in 0.5 M Me2SO. These results suggest that multistep protocols will be required for the cryopreservation of hepatocytes.     

Effects of freezing on membranes and proteins in LNCaP prostate tumor cells

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and cryomicroscopy were used to define the process of cellular injury during freezing in LNCaP prostate tumor cells, at the molecular level. Cell pellets were monitored during cooling at 2 degrees C/min while the ice nucleation temperature was varied between -3 and -10 degrees C. We show that the cells tend to dehydrate precipitously after nucleation unless intracellular ice formation occurs. The predicted incidence of intracellular ice formation rapidly increases at ice nucleation temperatures below -4 degrees C and cell survival exhibits an optimum at a nucleation temperature of -6 degrees C. The ice nucleation temperature was found to have a great effect on the membrane phase behavior of the cells. The onset of the liquid crystalline to gel phase transition coincided with the ice nucleation temperature. In addition, nucleation at -3 degrees C resulted in a much more co-operative phase transition and a concomitantly lower residual conformational disorder of the membranes in the frozen state compared to samples that nucleated at -10 degrees C. These observations were explained by the effect of the nucleation temperature on the extent of cellular dehydration and intracellular ice formation. Amide-III band analysis revealed that proteins are relatively stable during freezing and that heat-induced protein denaturation coincides with an abrupt decrease in alpha-helical structures and a concomitant increase in beta-sheet structures starting at an onset temperature of approximately 48 degrees C.     

Effect of warming rate on mouse embryos frozen and thawed in glycerol

Mouse embryos (8-cell) fully equilibrated in 1.5 M-glycerol were cooled slowly (0.5 degrees C/min) to temperatures between - 7.5 and - 80 degrees C before rapid cooling and storage in liquid nitrogen (-196 degrees C). Some embryos survived rapid warming (approximately 500 degrees C/min) irrespective of the temperature at which slow cooling was terminated. However, the highest levels of survival of rapidly warmed embryos were observed when slow cooling was terminated between -25 and -80 degrees C (74-86%). In contrast, high survival (75-86%) was obtained after slow warming (approximately 2 degrees C/min) only when slow cooling was continued to -55 degrees C or below before transfer into liquid N2. Injury to embryos cooled slowly to -30 degrees C and then rapidly to -196 degrees C occurred only when slow warming (approximately 2 degrees C/min) was continued to -60 degrees C or above. Parallel cryomicroscopical observations indicated that embryos became dehydrated during slow cooling to -30 degrees C and did not freeze intracellularly during subsequent rapid cooling (approximately 250 degrees C/min) to -150 degrees C. During slow warming (2 degrees C/min), however, intracellular ice appeared at a temperature between -70 and -65 degrees C and melted when warming was continued to -30 degrees C. Intracellular freezing was not observed during rapid warming (250 degrees C/min) or during slow warming when slow cooling had been continued to -65 degrees C. These results indicate that glycerol provides superior or equal protection when compared to dimethyl sulphoxide against the deleterious effects of freezing and thawing.     

Survival of frozen mouse embryos after rapid thawing from -196 degrees C.

The effect of the rate of rewarming on the survival of 8-cell mouse embryos and blastocysts was examined. The samples were slowly cooled (0.3--0.6 degrees C/min) in 1.5 M-DMSO to temperatures between -10 and -80 degrees C before direct transfer to liquid nitrogen (-196 degrees C). Embryos survived rapid thawing (275--500 degrees C/min) only when slow cooling was terminated at relatively high subzero temperatures (-10 to -50 degrees C). The highest levels of survival in vitro of rapidly thawed 8-cell embryos were obtained after transfer to -196 degrees C from -35 and -40 degrees C (72 to 88%) and of rapidly thawed blastocysts after transfer from -25 to -50 degrees C (69 to 74%). By contrast, for embryos to survive slow thawing (8 to 20 degrees C/min) slow cooling to lower subzero temperatures (-60 degrees C and below) was required before transfer to -196 degrees C. The results indicate that embryos transferred to -196 degrees C from high subzero temperatures contain sufficient intracellular ice to damage them during slow warming but to permit survival after rapid warming. Survival of embryos after rapid dilution of DMSO at room temperature was similar to that after slow (stepwise) dilution at 0 degrees C. There was no difference between the viability of rapidly and slowly thawed embryos after transfer to pseudopregnant foster mothers. It is concluded that the behaviour of mammalian embryos subjected to the stresses of freezing and thawing is similar to that of other mammalian cells. A simpler and quicker method for the preservation of mouse embryos is described.     

Effects of cooling and warming rate to and from -70 degrees C, and effect of further cooling from -70 to -196 degrees C on the motility of mouse spermatozoa

We have previously reported high survival in mouse sperm frozen at 21 degrees C/min to -70 degrees C in a solution containing 18% raffinose in 0.25 x PBS (400 mOsm) and then warmed rapidly at approximately 2000 degrees C/min, especially under lowered oxygen tensions induced by Oxyrase, a bacterial membrane preparation. The best survival rates were obtained in the absence of glycerol. The first concern of the present study was to determine the effects of the cooling rate on the survival of sperm suspended in this medium. The sperm were cooled to -70 degrees C at rates ranging from 0.3 to 530 degrees C/min. The survival curve was an inverted "U" shape, with the highest motility occurring between 27 and 130 degrees C/min. Survival decreased precipitously at higher cooling rates. Decreasing the warming rate, however, decreased survivals at all cooling rates. The motility depression with slow warming was especially evident in sperm cooled at the optimal rates. This fact is consistent with our current view that the frozen medium surrounding sperm cells is in a metastable state, perhaps partly vitrified as a result of the high concentrations of sugar. The decimation of sperm cooled more rapidly than optimum (>130 degrees C/min), even with rapid warming, is consistent with the induction of considerable quantities of intracellular ice at these rates. When glycerol was added to the above medium, motilities were also dependent on the cooling rate, but they tended to be substantially lower than those obtained in the absence of glycerol. The minimum temperature in the above experiments was -70 degrees C. When sperm were frozen to -70 degrees C at optimum rates, lowering the temperature to -196 degrees C had no adverse effect.     

Nonequilibrium freezing of one-cell mouse embryos. Membrane integrity and developmental potential.

A thermodynamic model was used to evaluate and optimize a rapid three-step nonequilibrium freezing protocol for one-cell mouse embryos in the absence of cryoprotectants (CPAs) that avoided lethal intracellular ice formation (IIF). Biophysical parameters of one-cell mouse embryos were determined at subzero temperatures using cryomicroscopic investigations (i.e., the water permeability of the plasma membrane, its temperature dependence, and the parameters for heterogeneous IIF). The parameters were then incorporated into the thermodynamic model, which predicted the likelihood of IIF. Model predictions showed that IIF could be prevented at a cooling rate of 120 degrees C/min when a 5-min holding period was inserted at -10 degrees C to assure cellular dehydration. This predicted freezing protocol, which avoided IIF in the absence of CPAs, was two orders of magnitude faster than conventional embryo cryopreservation cooling rates of between 0.5 and 1 degree C/min. At slow cooling rates, embryos predominantly follow the equilibrium phase diagram and do not undergo IIF, but mechanisms other than IIF (e.g., high electrolyte concentrations, mechanical effects, and others) cause cellular damage. We tested the predictions of our thermodynamic model using a programmable freezer and confirmed the theoretical predictions. The membrane integrity of one-cell mouse embryos, as assessed by fluorescein diacetate retention, was approximately 80% after freezing down to -45 degrees C by the rapid nonequilibrium protocol derived from our model. The fact that embryos could be rapidly frozen in the absence of CPAs without damage to the plasma membrane as assessed by fluorescein diacetate retention is a new and exciting finding. Further refinements of this protocol is necessary to retain the developmental competence of the embryos.     

A theoretical model of intracellular devitrification

Devitrification of the intracellular solution can cause significant damage during warming of cells cryopreserved by freezing or vitrification. Whereas previous theoretical investigations of devitrification have not considered the effect of cell dehydration on intracellular ice formation, a new model which couples membrane-limited water transport equations, classical nucleation theory, and diffusion-limited crystal growth theory is presented. The model was used to explore the role of cell dehydration in devitrification of human keratinocytes frozen in the presence of glycerol. Numerical simulations demonstrated that water transport during cooling affects subsequent intracellular ice formation during warming, correctly predicting observations that critical warming rate increases with increasing cooling rate. However, for cells with a membrane transport activation energy less than approximately 50 kJ/mol, devitrification was also affected by cell dehydration during warming, leading to a reversal of the relationship between cooling rate and critical warming rate. Thus, for low warming rates (less than 10 degrees C/min for keratinocytes), the size and total volume fraction of intracellular ice crystals forming during warming decreased with decreasing warming rate, and the critical warming rate decreased with increasing cooling rate. The effects of water transport on the kinetics of intracellular nucleation and crystal growth were elucidated by comparison of simulations of cell warming with simulations of devitrification in H(2)O-NaCl-glycerol droplets of constant size and composition. These studies showed that the rate of intracellular nucleation was less sensitive to cell dehydration than was the crystal growth rate. The theoretical methods presented may be of use for the design and optimization of freeze-thaw protocols.     

Depression of the ice-nucleation temperature of rapidly cooled mouse embryos by glycerol and dimethyl sulfoxide.

The temperature at which ice formation occurs in supercooled cytoplasm is an important element in predicting the likelihood of intracellular freezing of cells cooled by various procedures to subzero temperatures. We have confirmed and extended prior indications that permeating cryoprotective additives decrease the ice nucleation temperature of cells, and have determined some possible mechanisms for the decrease. Our experiments were carried out on eight-cell mouse embryos equilibrated with various concentrations (0-2.0 M) of dimethyl sulfoxide or glycerol and then cooled rapidly. Two methods were used to assess the nucleation temperature. The first, indirect, method was to determine the in vitro survival of the rapidly cooled embryos as a function of temperature. The temperatures over which an abrupt drop in survival occurs are generally diagnostic of the temperature range for intracellular freezing. The second, direct, method was to observe the microscopic appearance during rapid cooling and note the temperature at which nucleation occurred. Both methods showed that the nucleation temperature decreased from - 10 to - 15 degrees C in saline alone to between - 38 degrees and - 44 degrees C in 1.0-2.0 M glycerol and dimethyl sulfoxide. The latter two temperatures are close to the homogeneous nucleation temperatures of the solutions in the embryo cytoplasm, and suggest that embryos equilibrated in these solutions do not contain heterogeneous nucleating agents and are not accessible to any extracellular nucleating agents, such as extracellular ice. The much higher freezing temperatures of cells in saline or in low concentrations of additive indicate that they are being nucleated by heterogeneous agents or, more likely, by extracellular ice.