Microfluidics technology may be an effective method to solve some problems in cryopreservation. This review presents the research progress of microfluidics technology in the field of cell membrane transport properties, cryoprotectant addition and washout and the vitrification for cryopreservation of biological materials. Existing problems of microfluidics technology in the application of cryopreservation are summarized and future research directions are indicated as well.
Microfluidic chips can be used to realize continuous cryoprotectants (CPA) loading/unloading for oocytes, reducing osmotic damage and chemical toxicity of CPA. In this study, five different Y-shape microfluidic chips were fabricated to realize the continuous CPA loading/unloading. The effects of flow rate, entrance angle, aspect ratio and turning radius of microchannels on the mixing efficiency of microfluidic chips were analyzed quantitatively. The experimental results showed that with the decrease of flow rates, the increase of aspect ratios and the decrease of turning raradius of microchannel, the mixing length decreased and the mixing velocity was promoted, while the entrance angle had little effect on the mixing efficiency. However, the operating conditions and structural parameters of the chips in practical application should be determined based on an overall consideration of CPA loading/unloading time and machining accuracy. These results would provide a reference to the application of microfluidic chip in CPA mixing.
In order to reduce osmotic damage and chemical toxicity of cryoprotectants (CPA) to oocytes during unloading process, the microfluidic chip was used to remove CPA from porcine MⅡ oocytes in this study. Firstly, the effects of unloading time, composition and concentration of diluting solutions of microfluidic method on survival rate and developmental capacity of oocytes were studied, then microfluidic method was compared with traditional one-step and two-step CPA unloading protocols. The results showed that when the total time is 8 minutes, the survival rate and morula rate of oocytes treated with microfluidic method could achieve 95.99% ± 4.64% and 74.17% ± 1.18%, respectively, which were not significantly different from fresh control group (98.53% ± 2.94%; 78.22% ± 1.34%). In addition, 1 mol/L sucrose diluting solutions were more beneficial than other solutions, and it was also showed that microfluidic method achieved better survival, cleavage rate of oocytes than traditional methods. Microfluidic CPA removal protocol can reduce the damage to oocytes during unloading process, and may further improve the cryopreservation effect of oocytes.
Dimethyl sulfoxide (Me2SO) supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS) is a widely used cryoprotectant combination. However, high concentration of Me2SO is toxic to cells, and FBS presents problems related to diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy and viral infections. Silk protein is a kind of natural macromolecule fiber protein with good biocompatibility and hydrophilicity. The aim of this paper is to analyze the cryoprotective mechanism of silk protein as cryoprotectant. Firstly, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to measure the thermal hysteresis activity (THA) of silk protein. The THA of 10 mg/mL sericin protein was 0.96°C, and the THA of 10% (V/V) fibroin protein was 1.15°C. Then the ice recrystallization inhibition (IRI) of silk protein-PBS solution was observed with cryomicroscope. The cold stage was set at − 7°C, after 40 minutes’ incubation, the mean grain size rate (MGSR) of sericin protein and fibroin protein were 28.99% and 3.18%, respectively, which were calculated relative to phosphate buffer saline (PBS) control. It is indicated that sericin and silk fibroin have certain effects of inhibiting recrystallization of ice crystals. Finally, the structure and physicochemical properties of silk protein were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results showed that the content of the random coil was 75.62% and the β-sheet structure was 24.38% in the secondary of sericin protein. The content of the β-sheet structure was 56.68%, followed by random coil structure 22.38%, and α-helix 16.84% in the secondary of fibroin protein. The above analysis demonstrates the feasibility of silk fibroin as a cryoprotectant, and provides a new idea for the selection of cryoprotectants in the future.