Quantifying the Growth Rate and Morphology of Ice Crystals Growing in Cryoprotectants via High-Speed Camera and Cryo-Microscope

Recently, several significant progresses have been made on the studies of extracellular and intracellular ice formation based on high-speed camera and cryomicroscope. This experimental methodology could accurately capture rapid formation process of ice crystals at micro-scale. In this paper, we are dedicated to quantify and comparatively investigate the growth rate and morphology of ice crystals growing in DMSO, sucrose and trehalose, respectively via high-speed camera and cryo-microscope. Several impact factors such as the concentration of cryoprotectants and the cooling rate have been investigated. The results indicate that the species and concentration of cryoprotectants and the cooling rate could significantly affect the growth rate and morphology of ice crystals. DMSO is better than trehalose and sucrose as cryoprotectant because of its molecular structure. This work may enhance current understanding of the factors for ice crystals formation and help optimize the cryopreservation process in the near future.