Osmotic tolerance limits of red blood cells from umbilical cord blood.

Effective methods for long-term preservation of cord red blood cells (RBCs) are needed to ensure a readily available supply of RBCs to treat fetal and neonatal anemia. Cryopreservation is a potential long-term storage strategy for maintaining the quality of cord RBCs for the use in intrauterine and neonatal transfusion. However, during cryopreservation, cells are subjected to damaging osmotic stresses during cryoprotectant addition and removal and freezing and thawing that require knowledge of osmotic tolerance limits in order to optimize the preservation process.

Osmotic parameters of red blood cells from umbilical cord blood.

The transfusion of red blood cells from umbilical cord blood (cord RBCs) is gathering significant interest for the treatment of fetal and neonatal anemia, due to its high content of fetal hemoglobin as well as numerous other potential benefits to fetuses and neonates. However, in order to establish a stable supply of cord RBCs for clinical use, a cryopreservation method must be developed. This, in turn, requires knowledge of the osmotic parameters of cord RBCs.

A method to measure permeability of red blood cell membrane to water and solutes using intrinsic fluorescence.

Background: Designing effective cryopreservation procedures for cells requires knowledge of permeability of cell membrane to water and solutes. To determine cell membrane permeability, one needs to measure the rate of cell volume changes in anisotonic environment. Red blood cells (RBCs) respond very quickly to changes in extracellular solutes concentration, which complicates the use of traditional methods.

Quality of red blood cells isolated from umbilical cord blood stored at room temperature.

Red blood cells (RBCs) from cord blood contain fetal hemoglobin that is predominant in newborns and, therefore, may be more appropriate for neonatal transfusions than currently transfused adult RBCs. Post-collection, cord blood can be stored at room temperature for several days before it is processed for stem cells isolation, with little known about how these conditions affect currently discarded RBCs. The present study examined the effect of the duration cord blood spent at room temperature and other cord blood characteristics on cord RBC quality.

Intracellular ice formation in confluent monolayers of human dental stem cells and membrane damage.

Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) are of interest to researchers and clinicians due to their ability to differentiate into various tissue types and potential uses in cell-mediated therapies and tissue engineering. Currently DPSCs are cryopreserved in suspension using Me(2)SO. However, preservation as two and three dimensional constructs, along with the elimination of toxic Me(2)SO, may be required.