• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2002

Objective: This study was carried out to establish the effectiveness of the vitrification method and the optimal cryoprotectants in the cryopreservation of human embryonic stem cells (ESC). Materials and Methods: Human ESC clumps established at Seoul National University Hospital (SNUhES 1) were cryopreserved with the vitrification method using the EM grid. EDS and EFS40 were used as vitrification solutions. Results: Between the EDS and EFS40 groups, there was no significant difference in the recovery rate after cryopreservation of human ESC. The formation rates of ESC colonies in the vitrified groups were significantly lower than those in the control ESC group (p<0.05, p<0.05). In addition, the formation rate of ESC colonies in the EDS group was significantly higher than that in the EFS40 group (p<0.05). The ESC colonies in the vitrified groups were significantly smaller after culture duration of 2 and 4 days, respectively, compared with the control ESC group (p<0.1, p<0.05). However, these effects could be reduced to nonsignificant level by the additional culture of ESC colonies. The vitrified human ESC retained the properties of pluripotent cells, including the expression of cell surface. markers for the undifferentiated cells such as alkaline phosphatase and SSEA-4 (stage-specific embryonic antigen-4), and the expression of transcription factor Oct-4 (octamer-binding transcription factor-4), and the normal karyotype. Conclusion: The vitrification method using the EM grid and EDS solution was confirmed to be very effective for the cryopreservation of human ESC.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.63-68
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• 1998

This study was done to find optimal cryopreservation medium and method to improve the post-thaw motility of human sperm. Thirty three semaen samples were included in the study. Of these, nineteen Samples showing normal semen profile were frozen using three cryprotectants (TYB, TYB+DTT and KS II)to compare post-thaw motility. Fourteen samples were frozen with vapor freezing and programmable freezing methods to compare post-thaw motility in correlation with freezing method. After 24 hrs of cryostorage , the vials were thawed and the post-thaw sperm motility was assessed by two kinds of computer-aededsperm analysis (CASA; SAIS and Hamilton Thorn). As a result, the post-thaw motility of the KS II group was higher than the TYB or TYB+DTT group in normal semen(34.8%, 28.3% and 23.0%, respectively). In the asthenospermia group, a significantly hither post-thaw motility was observed in the KS II (18.5%) compared to those of TYB or TYB+DTT group (13.6%, 10.0%, respectively). No difference was observed between vapor freezing group and computerized freezing group in normal semen (27.8%, 33.2%, respectively) and semen group showing asthenospermia (12.8%, 12.9%, respectively). In conclusion, our results indicate that KS II medium is reliable for cryopreservation of human sperm and vapor freezing and programmable freezing were equally effective in terms of the recovery of motile spermatozoa.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.245-250
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• 2011

The aim of this study was to evaluate the post-thawed characteristics of leopard cat semen. In this experiment, semen was collected from two leopard cats (A and B) at wild animal center in Seoul Grand Park in Korea. After collection, the sperms were washed with D-PBS and diluted by the freezing medium (Irvine science, USA) and stored in liquid nitrogen. The post-thawed concentration was $357{\times}10^6sperms/ml$ for A and $97{\times}10^6sperms/ml$ for B. The viability of post-thawed sperm from A and B individual was 24.0% and 19.0%, respectively. Pre-freezing motility of A and B individual semen was 68.54% and 56.65. Leopard cat A had more normal sperm than that of B (69.5% vs. 54.5%). Acrosome integrity analysis detected live (14.5% vs. 9.0%), damage (39.0% vs. 44.0%) and dead (46.0% vs. 47.0%) in leopard cat A and B, respectively. The present results concluded that leopard cat semen can be collected successfully by electro-ejaculation method and cryopreserved successfullyfor future use in different assisted reproductive technologies. The cryopreservation protocol needs to be modified for increasing post-thawed viability of leopard cat spermatozoa.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.394-398
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• 2011

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are pluripotent cells that can be found in umbilical cord blood from new borne babies as well as placenta, bone marrow, adipose tissue, amniotic fluid, muscle, et al. MSC are capable of renewing themselves without differentiation in long-term culture, also can be differentiated into various tissues under specific condition. Formulating a cryopreservation protocol for the MSC is required because these cells cannot survive for long periods under in vitro culture conditions and a new formulation of harmless cryoprotectant is needed for the direct injection of MSC into patients. The undifferentiated MSC were frozen with a vitrification solution of 40% ethylene glycol, 20% Ficoll-70 and 0.3M sucrose. The survival rate after thawing and their proliferation rate were examined and compared with slow rate cooling methods using dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). The vitrification method showed high survival rate after thawing and proliferation capacity comparable to DMSO. It can be suggested that ultra-rapid cooling method by vitrification is reliable methods for long term preservation of MSC and the vitrification solution with ethylene glycol, Ficoll-70 and sucrose will be more beneficially used for direct transplantation of MSC into patients than DMSO solution.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.183-187
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• 2012

Adult stem cell transplantation has been increased every year, because of the lack of organ donors for regenerative medicine. Therefore, development of reliable and safety cryopreservation and bio-baking method for stem cell therapy is urgently needed. The present study investigated safety of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) such as common cryoprotectant on porcine bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (pBM-MSCs) by evaluating the activation of Caspase-3 and -7, apoptosis related important signal pathway. pBM-MSCs used for the present study were isolated density gradient method by Ficoll-Paque Plus and cultured in A-DMEM supplemented 10% FBS at $38.5^{\circ}C$ in 5% $CO_2$ incubator. pBM-MSCs were cryopreserved in A-DMEM supplemented either with 5%, 10% or 20% DMSO by cooling rate at $-1^{\circ}C$/min in a Kryo 360 (planner 300, Middlesex, UK) and kept into $LN_2$. Survival rate of cells after thawing did not differ between 5% and 10% DMSO but was lowest in 20% DMSO by 0.4% trypan blue exclusion. Activation of Caspase-3 and -7 by Vybrant FAM Caspase-3 and -7 Assay Assay Kit (Molecular probes, Inc.OR, USA) was analyzed with a flow cytometer. Both of cryopreserved and control groups (fresh pBM-MSCs) were observed after the activation of Caspase-3 and -7. The activation did not differ between 5% and 10% DMSO, but was observed highest in 20% DMSO. Therefore 5% DMSO can be possibly used for cell cryopreservation instead of 10% DMSO.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.251-256
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• 1999

The present study was conducted to evaluate whether vitrification could be used for ovarian tissue preservation. The important issue here is that the vitrification is very simple, easy, and economical compared to the conventional cryopreserving method that using automatic freezing instrument. Human ovarian cortical tissues were cryopreserved by vitrification with 5.5 M ethylene glycol and 1.0 M sucrose as cryoprotectant. Three points of temperature ($4^{\circ}C$, room temperature, and $37^{\circ}C$) and two points of duration (5 or 10 minutes) for cryoprotectant treatment were examined to determine the best condition for vitrification of the human ovarian cortical tissues. After thawing, viability of the isolated primordial follicles was examined by dye-exclusion method. Histological appearance of tissues before and after the cryopreservation was evaluated. There was no toxic effect of the 5.5 M ethylene glycol on the primordial follicles. However, when the tissues were treated with cryoprotectant at $37^{\circ}C$ for 10 minutes and exposed to liquid nitrogen, it seems likely that there is certain deleterious effects on the viability of the primordial follicles. The highest viability of the primordial follicles was obtained with the treatment of cryoprotectant at room temperature for 10 minutes. Follicles and oocytes survived after freezing and thawing had the similar normal shapes as was seen in the specimens before cryopreservation. It would be useful to apply vitrification in establishing ovarian tissue banking for clinical purposes.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.195-201
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• 2008

A simplified technique that cryoprotects zygotic embryos by desiccation was developed for germplasm conservation of wild yam species(Dioscorea spp.) in Korea. Comparative studies with three other cryogenic techniques were conducted. The maximum survival of zygotic embryos were achieved at a frequency of 96.6% when embryos were cryopreserved by the desiccation method. For the successful cryopreservation of yam zygotic embryos, those that were excised from immature/mature seeds were dried in the air stream of a laminar flow cabinet for 30 min at room temperature and then directly immersed in liquid nitrogen.

• 대한생식의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.103-103
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• 2004

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Biotechnology Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.160-160
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• 2004

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.1142-1151
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• 1999

Today, laboratory animal production has decreased world-wide to half the number estimated in 1970 of more than 100 Mio. This is due to the cell-biological assays which replaced animal experimentation as a first allround method to solve biomedical problems. Animal experimentation remains the most significant experimental method for the study of higher organized physiological systems and their multifactorial connections. This requires maximal uniformity of all quantitative traits among the animals used for such studies (mainly mice and rats) and stability of these traits for reproducing such studies at any time world-wide. The success of the developed methods for the standardization of laboratory animals was analyzed and were found only partly be acceptable. Getting a higher degree of uniformity among standardized inbred animals is blocked by "intangible variance". This is caused by influences of ooplasm, shown by experimental twin and clone studies. Manipulation of this component of variance is essential in the future. - Genetic drifts impair the necessary stability of biological traits. There are a few disadvantages associated with the cryopreservation of embryos and other methods are required. - Dogs and cats were replaced by pigs as laboratory animals. A new line of animal production will evolve over the next 25 years with similarities to the present laboratory animal production, because in future pigs were used as donors for xenotransplants for men.