For stem cell therapy to become a routine reality, one of the major challenges to overcome is their storage and transportation. Currently this is achieved by cryopreserving cells utilising the cryoprotectant dimethyl sulfoxide (Me2SO). Me2SO is toxic to cells, leads to loss of cell functionality, and can produce severe side effects in patients. Potentially, cells could be frozen using the cryoprotectant trehalose if it could be delivered into the cells at a sufficient concentration. The novel amphipathic membrane permeabilising agent PP-50 has previously been shown to enhance trehalose uptake by erythrocytes, resulting in increased cryosurvival. Here, this work was extended to the nucleated human cell line SAOS-2. Using the optimum PP-50 concentration and media osmolarity, cell viability post-thaw was 60 ± 2%. In addition, the number of metabolically active cells 24 h post-thaw, normalised to that before freezing, was found to be between 103 ± 4% and 91 ± 5%. This was found to be comparable to cells frozen using Me2SO. Although reduced (by 22 ± 2%, p = 0.09), the doubling time was found not to be statistically different to the non-frozen control. This was in contrast to cells frozen using Me2SO, where the doubling time was significantly reduced (by 41 ± 4%, p = 0.004). PP-50 mediated trehalose delivery into cells could represent an alternative cryopreservation protocol, suitable for research and therapeutic applications.

With the cell therapy industry continuing to grow, the ability to preserve clinical grade cells, including mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), whilst retaining cell viability and function remains critical for the generation of off-the-shelf therapies. Cryopreservation of MSCs, using slow freezing, is an established process at lab scale. However, the cytotoxicity of cryoprotectants, like MeSO, raises questions about the impact of prolonged cell exposure to cryoprotectant at temperatures >0 °C during processing of large cell batches for allogenic therapies prior to rapid cooling in a controlled rate freezer or in the clinic prior to administration. Here we show that exposure of human bone marrow derived MSCs to MeSO for ≥1 h before freezing, or after thawing, degrades membrane integrity, short-term cell attachment efficiency and alters cell immunophenotype. After 2 h's exposure to MeSO at 37 °C post-thaw, membrane integrity dropped to ∼70% and only ∼50% of cells retained the ability to adhere to tissue culture plastic. Furthermore, only 70% of the recovered MSCs retained an immunophenotype consistent with the ISCT minimal criteria after exposure. We also saw a similar loss of membrane integrity and attachment efficiency after exposing osteoblast (HOS TE85) cells to MeSO before, and after, cryopreservation. Overall, these results show that freezing medium exposure is a critical determinant of product quality as process scale increases. Defining and reporting cell sensitivity to freezing medium exposure, both before and after cryopreservation, enables a fair judgement of how scalable a particular cryopreservation process can be, and consequently whether the therapy has commercial feasibility.

SUMMARY1. The ouabain-insensitive Na efflux in barnacle muscle fibres is promptly stimulated by injection of cyclic GMP. The minimal effective injected concentration is found to be about 10-7 M. This effect of cyclic GMP could not be mimicked by injecting 5'-GMP.2. External application of ouabain (104 M) to fibres not pretreated with ouabain during the stimulatory response to cyclic GMP causes some inhibition of the Na efflux indicating that cyclic GMP does not cause appreciable inhibition of the Na: K pump.3. The magnitude of the stimulatory response to injected cyclic GMP depends on the external Ca2+ concentration, as well as pHe but not on the Na+, K+ or Mg2+ concentration. It also depends on pHi, since acidification of HCO3-containing ASW leads to a greater enhancement of the response to cyclic GMP than is observed with acidified HEPES-ASW. 4. Stabilization of myoplasmic pCa by injecting 100 mM-EGTA before or after cyclic GMP fails to alter the magnitude of the response to the nucleotide. Enrichment of the fibre with Mg2+ at the time of injection of cyclic GMP leads to a reduced response. No change in response, however, is seen when the internal free Mg concentration is suddenly reduced by injecting 0.05 M-pyrophosphate with cyclic GMP.5. Injection of cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase stimulatory modulator before cyclic GMP fails to enhance the response to the nucleotide. The same is true of the phosphodiesterase inhibitor protein. However pre-injection of 10-2 M-papaverine enhances the response to a subsequent injection of 104 M-cyclic GMP. 6. Injection of pure protein kinase inhibitor (1I 6 x 104 M) before 10-3 M-cyclic GMP reduces the response to the nucleotide.7. The argument is put forward that injected cyclic GMP stimulates the ouabaininsensitive Na efflux mainly by activating cyclic AMP-protein kinase rather than cyclic GMP-protein kinase.