Comprehensive evaluation of different cryopreservation methods used for the successful storage of human Wharton's Jelly tissue

Abstract

Introduction: The Wharton's Jelly tissue possesses an attractive source for the isolation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), that could be used in large scale clinical trials and in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However, prolonged cell culture and expansion, could affect their characteristics by causing genomic and epigenetic alterations. A possible solution to this problem would be the cryopreservation of the entire Wharton's Jelly (WJ) tissue. The use of dimethyl sulfoxide for such a complex tissue is insufficient for its proper storage. Vitrification might be a feasible method for storage of more complex tissues. In order to find the optimum method for the storage of the WJ tissue different cryopreservation methods, including vitrification and conventional cryopreservation were applied in this study.