Cryo-Preservation and Biophysical Properties of Articular Cartilage Chondrocytes

In order to successfully cryopreserve articular cartilage chondrocytes, it is important to characterize their osmotic response, during the cryopreservation process, as the ice forms and the solutes concentrate. In this study, an experimental work was undertaken to determine the osmotic parameters of articular cartilage chondrocytes. The osmotically inactive volume of articular cartilage chondrocytes was determined to be 44% of the isotonic volume. The membrane hydraulic conductivity parameters for water were determined by fitting a theoretical water transport model to the experimentally obtained volumetric shrinkage data; the membrane hydraulic conductivity parameter L_Pg was found to be 0.0633 μm³/μm²/min/atm, and the activation energy E, 8.23 kcal/mol. The simulated cooling process, using the osmotic parameters obtained in this study, suggest an optimal cooling rate of 80 °C /min in the cryopreservation of the articular cartilage chondrocytes of hogs.