The effect of cryopreservation on the current response of CaV 3.1 transfected HEK293 cells

Abstract

The main disadvantage of long-term storage of living cells in liquid nitrogen is its relatively fast evaporation. For this reason, it is necessary to refill Dewar flask quite often. In our experiments, we used low temperature freezer (-80 °C) as more economical option to liquid nitrogen and we would like to show that there is no significant influence of long-term storage of mammalian cell-sat a low temperature. The effect of temperature was studied as the electrophysiological characteristic of the whole-cell Ca2+ current in HEK293 cells. The current responses were measured from cells stored for eight months at -80 °C and compared with previously published papers. The current traces and I-V curves showed that there are no changes in current response between cells frozen at a low temperature and previously published results. From our results can be concluded that the low temperature freezer is an adequate option for storage of mammalian cells for a couple of months.