A Microfluidic Approach for Cryoprotectant Screening: Preliminary Validation with Human Red Blood Cells.

BACKGROUND The application of microfluidics has overcome a series of long-term existing bottlenecks in the field of cryobiology. However, there is still no investigation regarding the on-chip rapid screening of cryoprotectant concentration optimization for the integration of the entire freeze, thaw and cell counting process. OBJECTIVE To establish an on-chip approach for rapid cryoprotectant screening and concentration optimization. MATERIALS AND METHODS Rapid freezing of red blood cells with glycerol and dimethyl sulfoxide was used to validate the proposed on-chip method. RESULTS The optimal cryoprotectant and its concentration can be determined with the described method, without the need of additional samplings and assays. The optimal concentration for glycerol and dimethyl sulfoxide used in the validation experiments was 10% (w/v). CONCLUSION The microfluidic approach can be used for rapid cryoprotectant screening and concentration optimization.