Sucrose dilution of glycerol from mouse embryos frozen rapidly in liquid nitrogen vapour

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Abstract
The toxic effects of sucrose and the conditions of in-straw glycerol removal after freezing and thawing were studied using Day-3 mouse embryos. At 20.degree. C, exposure to .ltoreq. 1.0 M-sucrose for periods up to 30 min had no adverse effects on freshly developmental potential (P < 0.001). In the freezing experiments the embryos were placed in 0.5 ml straws containing 40 .mu.l freezing medium separated by an air bubble from 440 .mu.l sucrose solution. The straws were frozen rapidly in the vapour about 1 cm above the surface of liquid nitrogen. The post-thaw viability was substantially better after sucrose dilution at 20.degree. C than at 36.degree. C. Mixing the freezing medium with the sucrose diluent immediately after thawing further improved the rate of survival relative to mixing just before freezing (P < 0.001). The best survival was obtained when the freezing medium contained 3.0 M-glycerol + 0.25 M-sucrose; it was mixed with the diluent after thawing and the glycerol was removed at 20.degree. C. Under such conditions the sucrose concentration in the diluent had no significant effect on the rate of development (0.5 M, 69%; 1.0 M, 73%; 1.5 M, 64%). The results show that during sucrose dilution the temperature should be strictly controlled and suggest that intracellular and extracellular concentrations of glycerol are important in the cryoprotection of embryos.

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