Sometimes we have to store some substances which need to be maintained for a long time because sometimes we own some substances which are not required today but we need them in future. So we have to understand the science of preserving substances and in cryopreservation we use very low temperatures to preserve any substances.
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What is Cryopreservation:
The technology to preserve any biological sample like cells, tissues in sub-zero conditions is known as cryopreservation and generally we create very low temperatures around – 196 degree centigrade artificially.
In very low temperatures the different cellular activities stop because the cellular activities are controlled by the enzymes and for functioning of enzymes a specific range of temperatures is required and in very low temperatures their activity stops and we can preserve the substances for a long time.
But in cryopreservation we do not damage the cell by controlling the freezing point of the cell and generally liquid nitrogen and dry ice are used to create such low temperature and it is used to preserve spermatozoa, oocyte, cells, tissues.
Steps in Cryopreservation:
Harvesting:
In this step we select the material for preservation but we need to consider a few aspects before selecting the right object like volume, pH, density, morphology and we should take special care to prevent any damages.
Regulation of Freezing Point:
During the application of very low temperature the cytoplasm inside a cell can freeze and rupture the cell, to prevent it we need to control the freezing point of the cell and we use glycerol, glycol, sugar, salt to check the freezing of the cell.
Freezing:
When we use warm solutions of cryoprotective agents there is a high chance of cell damage due to the exposure of the warm environment so we should follow different methods of freezing.
Storing in Liquid Nitrogen:
Before we preserve the sample in preserving vessels we have to treat the biological sample for 5 to 24 hour in very low temperature around – 80 degree centigrade.
Thawing:
It is the treatment of biological samples in hot temperatures because there is a high chance of cell crystallization due to very low temperature so we should check the rate of cooling.
Oocyte Cryopreservation:
When we transplant an oocyte inside the woman’s body then we need to preserve the oocyte for some time and we use a very low temperature with an anti-freezing agent. We first place the oocyte in a medium with low concentrations of cryoprotective agents and then some sucrose is added to the medium which helps to remove some water from the oocyte.
Then we place the oocyte in higher concentration of cryoprotective agents for a very short span of time, a few seconds and then we transfer the oocyte in the medium with liquid nitrogen immediately and it is thawed to prevent the crystallization and transferred into the female body.
Embryo Cryopreservation:
Sometimes we need to preserve the embryo cell in the lab which can be transplanted in females in case of infertility and we use cryopreservation techniques to preserve them in the lab at a very low temperature until we need to transplant it.
Spermatozoa Cryopreservation:
In some cases of infertility we need to use spermatozoa and we need to place them in solutions of cryoprotective agents and then they are transferred in the liquid nitrogen for long term preservation.
Application of Cryopreservation:
Cryopreservation is used to preserve different biological samples for the long term, for example we store seeds of some species for future use in seedbank, we preserve different genetic material in genbank.
In medical sciences different body parts needed to store for long time for transplant them in future, like in treatment of infertility we store oocyte, embryo and spermatozoa which can be used in future.
In Conservation of biodiversity we can preserve different types of structure and we can use them in future and sometimes we can develop new organisms using the biological sample preserved in cryobank.
Read More: Biotechnology and its Principles
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