Nanoencapsulation Of Neuronal Cells For Cryopreservation Purposes

Cryopreservation is a commonly used method of long-term storage of biological material that guarantees the preservation of high genotypic stability of samples. It allows accumulating the required number of cells for successful transplant treatment, solving the problem of a limited number of cells isolated from the donor organs. Currently applied cryopreservation procedures have low efficiency and do not guarantee satisfactory cell viability after thawing. The study was aimed to construct and evaluate the polyelectrolyte multilayer's suitability in the cryopreservation of encapsulated neuronal cells. The multilayered membrane systems based on polyethyleneimine and polylysine or chitosan were constructed and analyzed. The designed systems were initially characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The encapsulated cells underwent cryopreservation for up to 6 months. Then after thawing, were cultured for comparison in two different commercial culture media DMEM or Neurobasal (R) for 7 d. Cell function was examined using flow cytometry as well as mitochondrial activity assay. Besides, the morphology of the system membrane-cell after thawing was assessed using scanning electron microscopy. The proposed membrane systems were shown to be useful for cryopreservation of neuronal cells. However, the implementation of the modified procedure for routine preservation of clinical samples requires further studies.