Cryotop vitrification of large batches of pig embryos simultaneously provides excellent postwarming survival rates and minimal interference with gene expression

Creating Ex Situ Protected Bioreservoirs as a Powerful Strategy for the Reproductive Biotechnology-Mediated Rescue of Threatened Polish Livestock Breeds

“…The first strategy involves the method of slow freezing, in which germplasm-carrying bioresources are sequentially subjected to treatment with relatively low concentrations of cryoprotectants displaying a high capability to permeabilize the plasma membranes [91][92][93]. Some of the most efficient, most potent and most permeable cryoprotectants are dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), glycerol, ethylene glycol (EG) and propylene glycol, while their non-permeable counterparts are monosaccharides, e.g., glucose and fructose, and disaccharides, e.g., sucrose [88,90,94]. The second strategy involves vitrification, in which a combination of different cryoprotectants is frequently applied to enhance the biophysical parameters of viscosity of the cryopreservation medium, increase the glass transition temperature and finally decrease the excitotoxicity.…”