The quality of enzymatic dispersion viability and cryopreservation of human skin cells

Cryopreservation of human tissue has generated great interest in the past years and cryobanking skin samples permit preserving a maximum of genetic representation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the enzymatic dispersion viability and cryopreservation of pre auricular skin cells. We studied the cell viability in 3 groups of cryopreserved pre auricular skin (6, 18 and 30 months) from 3 female patients from the Hospital Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, with ages ranging from 53 to 61 years and compared with control group (cell obtained from fresh skin). The enzymatic method using trypsin allowed dispersion of the skin cells preserved with quality and cellularity of the order of 85% and with adequate characteristics cryopreservation by about 90%. We observed decrease of less than 5% cell death in the dispersion and cryopreservation process. These results suggest an appropriate and efficient dispersion method and cryopreservation of skin cells.