Improved cryopreservation by diluted vitrification solution with supercooling-facilitating flavonol glycoside

The effect of kaempferol-7-O-glucoside (KF7G), one of the supercooling-facilitating flavonol glycosides which was originally found in deep supercooling xylem parenchyma cells of the katsura tree and was found to exhibit the highest level of supercooling-facilitating activity among reported substances, was examined for successful cryopreservation by vitrification procedures, with the aim of determining the possibility of using diluted vitrification solution (VS) to reduce cryoprotectant toxicity and also to inhibit nucleation at practical cooling and rewarming by the effect of supplemental KF7G. Examination was performed using shoot apices of cranberry and plant vitrification solution 2 (PVS2) with dilution. Vitrification procedures using the original concentration (100%) of PVS2 caused serious injury during treatment with PVS2 and resulted in no regrowth after cooling and rewarming (cryopreservation). Dilution of the concentration of PVS2 to 75% or 50% (with the same proportions of constituents) significantly reduced injury by PVS2 treatment, but regrowth was poor after cryopreservation. It is thought that dilution of PVS2 reduced injury by cryoprotectant toxicity, but such dilution caused nucleation during cooling and/or rewarming, resulting in poor survival. On the other hand, addition of 0.5 mg/ml (0.05% w/v) KF7G to the diluted PVS2 resulted in significantly (p < 0.05) higher regrowth rates after cryopreservation. It is thought that addition of supercooling-facilitating KF7G induced vitrification even in diluted PVS2 probably due to inhibition of ice nucleation during cooling and rewarming and consequently resulted in higher regrowth. The results of the present study indicate the possibility that concentrations of routinely used VSs can be reduced by adding supercooling-facilitating KF7G, by which more successful cryopreservation might be achieved for a wide variety of biological materials.