This disclosure describes cryopreservation compositions and methods. In one aspect, this disclosure describes a cryoprotective composition that generally includes a cryoprotective agent and a laser absorber comprising a plasmonic material.
In some embodiments, the laser absorber comprises a gold nanorod.
In another aspect, this disclosure describes a cell that includes any embodiment of the cryopreservative composition summarized immediately above.
In some embodiments, the laser absorber is distributed in all compartments of the cell.
In another aspect, this disclosure describes a method of rewarming a cryopreserved biospecimen. Generally, the method includes obtaining a cryopreserved specimen that includes any embodiment of the cryoprotective composition summarized above and subjecting the cryopreserved specimen to a laser pulse effective to heat the laser absorber sufficiently to thaw the cryopreserved biospecimen.
In some embodiments, the laser pulse produces a warming rate of at least 500,000° C./min.
The above summary of the present invention is not intended to describe each disclosed embodiment or every implementation of the present invention. The description that follows more particularly exemplifies illustrative embodiments. In several places throughout the application, guidance is provided through lists of examples, which examples can be used in various combinations. In each instance, the recited list serves only as a representative group and should not be interpreted as an exclusive list.
This disclosure describes compositions and methods that may be used to warm cryopreserved biological specimens. The methods and compositions described herein are useful for, for example, warming millimeter-sized cryopreserved biological specimens such as, for example, zebrafish embryos, germplasm, and/or other 100 micrometer to millimeter-sized model systems such as, for example, pancreatic islet cells, stem cells, biopsies of tissues, etc.
Cryopreservation allows viable cells and tissues to be preserved over time in the hypothermic, frozen, or vitrified (glassy) state. The typical approach for vitrification of bulk systems is to load them with highly concentrated (6 M to 8 M) solutions of a cryoprotectant agent (CPA), which dehydrates the cell in the bulk tissue and allows solidification into a glassy state without forming ice inside of the cells. High CPA concentrations are often needed in bulk systems since rates of cooling are diffusion-limited. However, these higher CPA concentrations can be toxic, particularly for single cell and/or primary cell systems (i.e., gametes and embryos).
Consequently, the technology described herein uses a lower, less toxic concentration of cryoprotective agent in combination with ultrafast cooling and warming techniques. High cooling rates decrease the extent to which ice can form during cooling. High warming rates (e.g., 10,000,000° C./min) can decrease the likelihood and/or extent to which a millimeter-sized cryopreserved specimen can devitrify (i.e., revert from glass to ice) during warming.
Existing methods for warming millimeter-sized biological specimens at such a rate include, for example, laser warming of a composition that includes a laser absorber such as India Ink (carbon black). Computer modeling suggests, however, that laser warming of India Ink cannot generate rapid heating rates required to rewarm millimeter-sized specimens uniformly. Moreover, India Ink can be toxic when injected inside of a specimen (e.g., a zebrafish embryo,
In contrast, this disclosure describes laser-assisted heating of a composition that includes a metal laser absorber such as, for example, gold nanorods. Gold nanorods are 10× more efficient than India Ink for heating and generate heat uniformly across a specimen without toxicity. Thus, laser-assisted heating of a metal laser absorber can generate high heating rates uniformly inside a millimeter-sized biological specimen and can be used to rewarm any cryopreserved millimeter-sized biomaterial where the metal laser absorber can be disbursed.
This technology can be exploited to allow a biological stock center (e.g., an aquaculture center, germplasm stock center, or a tissue bank) to store and ship vitrified biological specimens. The recipient of the vitrified specimens can then rewarm the material using the technology described herein so that the material is suitable for, for example, research and/or commercial purposes.
For example, zebrafish (Danio rerio) are an increasingly important model for vertebrate genetics and biomedical research. The study of zebrafish as a genetic model has led to many new transgenic and mutant strains, but many of these strains are difficult or impossible to routinely maintain as colonies. Consequently, focus has turned to cryopreserving zebrafish embryos. While progress has been made in loading the embryos with cryoprotective agents and their vitrification (i.e., cooling without lethal ice formation), the rewarming of the vitrified zebrafish embryo remains a challenge to successful and widespread use of cryopreservation. Barriers to successful cryopreservation of millimeter-sized specimens such as zebrafish embryos include: 1) a small surface-to-volume ratio, which slows water movement out of the cells and slows the cooling and warming processes needed for successful preservation; 2) a multi-compartmental system (i.e., the blastoderm and yolk) having different permeabilities to cryoprotectant agents (e.g., the yolk is impermeable to most cryoprotectants, except methanol); and, 3) the extreme difficulty of rehydrating zebrafish embryonic cells once they have been dehydrated. Micro-injection can be a safe and non-toxic method for introducing cryoprotectants into the yolk compartment to overcome the permeability challenge. Slow equi-osmotic steps can rehydrate embryos safely to overcome the issue of rehydration. The technology described herein can overcome the challenge of uniform rewarming that results from the large surface-to-volume ration of a zebrafish embryo.
The technology described herein involves microinjecting a laser absorber (e.g., gold nanorods) into a millimeter-sized biological specimen and then directing a laser at the specimen to heat the gold nanorods so that the specimen may be rewarmed without ice forming during the rewarming process. For example, in embodiments in which the specimen is a zebrafish embryo, the gold nanorods can be microinjected into the yolk and/or chorion of the embryo before subjecting the specimen to rewarming with a laser.
The technology described herein can allow, for example, aquaculture, germplasm stock centers, or tissue banks to vitrify specimens—e.g., genetic lines or gonadal biopsies or other small 100 micrometer to mm sized tissues—to centers for research or for veterinary or clinical use. Recipients of the specimen can use commercial laser systems to rewarm the specimens. The high warming rates achievable in the practice of the methods described herein allow much smaller concentrations of cryoprotectants to be used (e.g., 2 M vs. 8 M), thereby reducing cryoprotectant toxicity and expanding the breadth of biological specimens that may be stored using cryoprotection.
In one exemplary embodiment, one can uniformly distribute propylene glycol as a cryoprotective agent (CPA) and gold nanorods (GNRs) into a millimeter-sized biological specimen. During rewarming, the disbursed GNRs will generate uniform heat under near infrared (NIR) laser irradiation (700-1100 nm) without coupling to biological cells and tissues. This approach can provide uniform and rapid warming needed rewarm a millimeter-sized specimen.
The GNR provides greater warming efficiency with less toxicity than India ink. For example, using absorption efficiency (Qabs) as a metric of NIR laser coupling potential, GNRs (Qabs=11.5, aspect ratio=3.9) are more efficient absorbers than India ink (Qabs=0.982). Moreover, intra-embryonic India ink is toxic while GNR is not, thus allowing GNR to be injected throughout the embryo and achieve uniform warming.
In one aspect, therefore, this disclosure describes a method that generally involves microinjecting a composition that includes a cryoprotective agent and gold nanorods into a biological specimen, then rapidly cooling the specimen to a temperature suitable for frozen storage. To rewarm the specimen, the specimen can be subjected to a NIR laser pulse. The complete method is summarized in
While described herein in the context of an exemplary embodiment in which the biological specimen is a zebrafish embryo, the technology described herein can be applied to any millimeter-sized biomaterial. As used herein, the term “millimeter-sized” refers to a specimen having a smallest linear dimension of no more than 5 mm such as, for example, no more than 4 mm, no more than 3 mm, no more than 2 mm, no more than 1 mm, no more than 0.9 mm, no more than 0.8 mm, no more than 0.7 mm, no more than 0.6 mm, no more than 0.5 mm, no more than 0.4 mm, no more than 0.3 mm, no more than 0.2 mm, or no more than 0.1 mm.
Thus, for example, the specimen could include human cells (e.g., pancreatic islet cells, stem cells, biopsy specimens, etc), mouse oocytes, zebrafish embryos, Xenopus laevis oocytes, coral larvae, or Lepidochelys olivacea embryos. In many embodiments, the specimen can include germplasm—e.g., from a biopsy taken from a testis or an ovary from any animal or species. In other embodiments, however, any tissue sample that can be loaded with a cryoprotective agent and metal-containing laser absorber can be used in connection with the technology platform described herein. Exemplary alternative specimens include, for example, neural cells, ganglia, stem cell spheroids, any biopsy from any soft tissue within the size parameters listed in the immediately preceding paragraph. If the laser beam can be broadened, additional exemplary specimens include, for example, the cornea, skin, or other thin tissues.
Also, while described herein in the context of an exemplary embodiment in which the cryoprotective agent includes propylene glycol, the technology described herein can involve the use of any suitable cryoprotective agent. Exemplary suitable cryoprotective agents include, but are not limited to, combinations of alcohols, sugars, polymers, and ice blocking molecules that alter the phase diagram of water and allow a glass to be formed more easily (and/or at higher temperatures) while also reducing the likelihood of ice nucleation and growth during cooling or thawing. In most cases, cryopreservative agents are not used alone, but in cocktails. In the case of vitrification solutions, exemplary cryopreservative cocktails are reviewed in Fahy et al. Cryobiology 48(1):22-35, 2004. Additional exemplary cryopreservative solutions can include one or more of the following: dimethyl sulfoxide, glycerol, propylene glycol, ethylene glycol, sucrose, trehalose, raffinose, polyvinylpyrrolidone, and/or other polymers (e.g., ice blockers and/or anti-freeze proteins).
In some embodiments, the cryoprotective agent may be present in the composition at a molarity of no more the 6 M such as, for example, no more than 5 M, no more than 4 M, no more than 3 M, no more than 2 M, no more than 1 M, no more than 900 mM, no more than 800 mM, no more than 700 mM, no more than 600 mM, no more than 500 mM, or no more than 250 mM.
Finally, while described herein in the context of an exemplary embodiment in which the laser absorber is a gold nanorods, the technology described herein can involve the use of a laser absorber of any suitable geometry and containing any suitable laser absorbing plasmonic material. Generally, the laser absorbing plasmonic material absorbs a narrow band of laser energy in contrast to, for example, India Ink, which is a broad band absorber. Thus, in some embodiments, the laser absorber can include material effective at converting laser energy into heat such as, for example, a metal such as gold, silver, titanium, and/or copper. In other embodiments, the laser absorber can be an alternative plasmonic material such as, for example, graphene. In some embodiments, the laser absorber can include an additional material such as, for example, a silicon core. Thus, the laser absorber can include a plurality of materials generally constructed to include a core and a shell that at least partially covers the core. The particular material or combination of materials used in the laser absorber can be selected based, at least in part, on the particular wavelength of the laser being used to warm the specimen. For example, when using a diode laser with a wavelength of 800 nm, the laser absorber can include a gold nanoshell with a silicon core. Similarly, the laser absorber can have any suitable geometry including, for example, a rod shape, a sphere, a cube, a horn, a star, etc. Selection of materials and geometry of the laser absorber can allow broad band absorption of various laser wavelengths from, for example, 200 nm to 2000 nm. Thus, the laser can also be selected to excite at any wavelength suitable to match the absorption of the plasmonically active nanoparticle.
In some embodiments, the laser absorber is distributed throughout all compartments of the cell. For a germinal cell, such a distribution includes the presence of the laser absorber in the chorion and yolk. For a somatic cell, such a distribution includes the presence of the laser absorber in the cytoplasm and the nucleus.
In an exemplary embodiment in which the specimen includes zebrafish embryos, the yolk and chorion can be injected with the cryoprotective agent/gold nanorod composition at the high cell stage (t=3.3 hours) in order to maximize the uniformity of distribution throughout the embryo as it grows. Gold nanorods at a concentration of 2 pM prepared in polyethylene glycol (PEG) can provide a warming rate of 107° C./min.
The specimen, injected with the cryoprotectant/gold nanorods composition can be cooled using, for example, liquid nitrogen to achieve an appropriate cryogenic temperature. (
The specimen may be cooled at a rate of at least 50,000° C./min such as, for example, at least 69,000° C./min or at least 90,000° C./min or at least 120,000° C./min. A microfluidic system can be used to increase the cooling rates by directly printing embryos in liquid nitrogen. A cooling rate of at least 50,000° C./min is sufficient to achieve vitrification of a cryoprotective agent composition that includes 2 M propylene glycol.
A cryopreserved specimen may be rewarmed at any suitable warming rate. A specimen may be rewarmed using a critical warming rate (CWR) of 10 times to 100 times the critical rate of cooling for successful cryopreservation by vitrification. Thus, the specimen may be warmed at a rate of at least 500,000° C./min such as, for example, a rate of at least 690,000° C./min, at least 840,000° C./min, at least 1,000,000° C./min, at least 2,000,000° C./min, at least 5,000,000° C./min, at least 14,000,000° C./min.
Laser-assisted GNR warming can provide both ultrafast and uniform warming in the cryopreserved specimen to help achieve these needed rates. Three cases (
In some cases, the protocol can include a dehydration step (
Embryos injected with a GNR-PEG composition, frozen, and laser rewarmed developed into juvenile fish, moving within their chorion (
Live cells may be selected using any suitable method including, for example, manual selection, centrifugation, or flow cytometry. In one embodiment, a microfluidic system could allow for high throughput optical sorting of viable versus nonviable embryos at room temperature prior to printing into liquid nitrogen.
The selection of live cells may be automated in a high-throughput system. The system can incorporate droplet microfluidics to transport cells through the system and/or add regents—e.g., a cryopreservation agent, an excipient, culture medium, metal laser absorber (e.g., gold nanorods), etc.—to the cells prior to the cells being frozen. Multi-phasic droplet microfluidics may be used to introduce a plurality of components to the cells. In addition, once frozen, embryos could be stored and/or transported to a laser warming jig that would quickly move embryos (one at a time) under a laser pulse.
In the preceding description and following claims, the term “and/or” means one or all of the listed elements or a combination of any two or more of the listed elements; the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” and variations thereof are to be construed as open ended—i.e., additional elements or steps are optional and may or may not be present; unless otherwise specified, “a,” “an,” “the,” and “at least one” are used interchangeably and mean one or more than one; and the recitations of numerical ranges by endpoints include all numbers subsumed within that range (e.g., 1 to 5 includes 1, 1.5, 2, 2.75, 3, 3.80, 4, 5, etc.).
In the preceding description, particular embodiments may be described in isolation for clarity. Unless otherwise expressly specified that the features of a particular embodiment are incompatible with the features of another embodiment, certain embodiments can include a combination of compatible features described herein in connection with one or more embodiments.
For any method disclosed herein that includes discrete steps, the steps may be conducted in any feasible order. And, as appropriate, any combination of two or more steps may be conducted simultaneously.
The present invention is illustrated by the following examples. It is to be understood that the particular examples, materials, amounts, and procedures are to be interpreted broadly in accordance with the scope and spirit of the invention as set forth herein.
The embryo is injected at the high cell stage (T=3.3 hr) in order to maximize the uniformity of distribution throughout the embryo as it grows. The injection contains 2 M propylene glycol and 12×1011 nps/mL. The injection mixture is injected in the yolk (10 nL) and the chorion (100 nL). The embryos are kept in zebrafish embryo medium (5.03 mM NaCl, 0.17 mM KCl, 0.33 mM CaCl2.2H2O, 0.33 mMMgSO4.2H2O, 0.1% (w/v) methylene blue) until they reach 100% epiboly stage (T=10 hr).
At this stage, dehydration can be employed or move to the vitrification stage. Dehydration allows the reduction of intracellular water in the embryo by 30%, which has been shown to increase the intracellular concentration and hence lower the cooling and warming rates for successful cryopreservation. Embryos can be immobilized in agarose while placed in a 2 molal sucrose solution. The volume of the embryos can be optically tracked. In some cases, dehydration can have performed at different embryonic stages to determine which stages produce high survival rates after dehydration. After vitrification and laser rewarming, the embryos can be rehydrated by placing the embryos in a 1 molal solution and sequentially diluting by 0.25 molal every hour for four hours.
During the vitrification stage, a single embryo, held on thin plastic blade (0.1 mm thick) is cooled in liquid nitrogen (LN2) for at least two minutes. The blade can be removed from the motor arm and stored in LN2.
For the laser rewarming stage, the blade with vitrified embryo is attached to the motor arm inside the LN2. The motor arm moves the blade out of the LN2 and into position for laser warming. A laser pulse is fired onto the vitrified embryo. Video recording of the entire transition has shown moving from LN2 into the laser field takes approximately 0.25 seconds. After the laser pulse is fired, the embryo can be removed from the blade and placed into embryo medium water. If the embryo was dehydrated prior to vitrification, the embryo will be rehydrated.
The complete disclosure of all patents, patent applications, and publications, and electronically available material (including, for instance, nucleotide sequence submissions in, e.g., GenBank and RefSeq, and amino acid sequence submissions in, e.g., SwissProt, PIR, PRF, PDB, and translations from annotated coding regions in GenBank and RefSeq) cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. In the event that any inconsistency exists between the disclosure of the present application and the disclosure(s) of any document incorporated herein by reference, the disclosure of the present application shall govern. The foregoing detailed description and examples have been given for clarity of understanding only. No unnecessary limitations are to be understood therefrom. The invention is not limited to the exact details shown and described, for variations obvious to one skilled in the art will be included within the invention defined by the claims.
Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing quantities of components, molecular weights, and so forth used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about.” Accordingly, unless otherwise indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the specification and claims are approximations that may vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by the present invention. At the very least, and not as an attempt to limit the doctrine of equivalents to the scope of the claims, each numerical parameter should at least be construed in light of the number of reported significant digits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques.
Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of the invention are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely as possible. All numerical values, however, inherently contain a range necessarily resulting from the standard deviation found in their respective testing measurements.
All headings are for the convenience of the reader and should not be used to limit the meaning of the text that follows the heading, unless so specified.
This application is the § 371 U.S. National Stage of International Application No. PCT/US2017/028351, filed Apr. 19, 2017, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/324,624, filed Apr. 19, 2016, disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US2017/028351 | 4/19/2017 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2017/184721 | 10/26/2017 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20190116783 A1 | Apr 2019 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62324624 | Apr 2016 | US |