A quality cryoprotectant and formulation excipient for biologics
Trehalose
Cryopreservation allows to preserve cells or tissues while maintaining viability and functionality for extended periods. This technique involves lowering the sample's temperature to extremely low levels. However, cryobiological reactions during freezing and thawing vary across cell types due to the formation of ice crystals, which often lead to cell death.
Cryopreservation involves several main steps:
1. Combining cryoprotective agents (CPAs) with cells or tissues before cooling
2. Storing them at low temperatures
3. Reheating the samples
4. Removing the CPAs after thawing.
CPAs play a crucial role by increasing solute concentration and reducing ice formation. They can be classified as penetrating (e.g., glycerol, 1,2-propanediol, dimethyl sulfoxide) or non-penetrating (e.g., glucose, trehalose, fructose).
Traditional cryopreservation methods utilize hazardous organic solvents as CPAs, which necessitates a laborious washing process to remove them. Unfortunately, this process often leads to the loss or death of vital cells. Sugars, like trehalose, can be good alternatives since they are very stable molecules that allow, for example, to inhibit effects on Maillard reactions.
Trehalose, a non-reducing glucose disaccharide linked by a 1,1-α,α-glycosidic linkage, produced from sources such as plant starch, is a powerful nontoxic CPA:
- Recovery rate higher than with DMSO (92% vs 58% for adult islets)1
- Higher percentage of viable cells in a medium containing trehalose instead of FBS (89,2% vs 33,1%)2
1 (Beattie et al., 1997) ; 2 (Jong et al., 2020)
