Development of Cryoplates for Cytotoxicity Testing

描述（由申请人提供）：高通量筛选的进步，以及世界各地减少动物试验的要求，推动了各种分析方法的发展，以评估潜在的新药及其副作用。对潜在有害化学品和副产品的环境监测也推动了新分析方法的发展。方便的基于细胞的系统测试各种各样的产品与各种细胞类型已经成为一个很大的需求。在第一阶段，我们建议开发一种系统，提供随时可用的细胞在微滴板上进行任何所需的检测。我们证明了附着于组织培养塑料或细胞外基质上的牛角膜内皮细胞（BCE）可以冷冻保存并在解冻后存活。我们还表明，我们能够均匀地冷却和加热微滴板，并提高细胞对底物的总体保留。II期计划的目标是进一步定义和优化参数，以提供附着在微滴板上的BCE细胞的成功低温保存。结果表明，细胞贴附于细胞外基质的细胞在低温保存后比贴附于组织培养塑料的细胞表现出更好的活力。进一步检查细胞外基质成分，以确定是否调整基质成分可以提高生存能力和附着。此外，还将评估其他低温生物学变量，包括冷却优化、冷冻保护剂载体溶液的选择及其对细胞存活的影响，以及在微滴板上冷冻保存后细胞的长期储存。所有这些实验都旨在进一步优化系统，并提供可用于各种应用的板上细胞。冷冻保存的BCE细胞将通过一系列功能检测来验证，包括但不限于对毒物的反应、细胞外基质的形成、屏障功能和一氧化氮的产生。预计角膜内皮细胞的程序优化将提供一个技术平台，可以应用于其他细胞类型的进一步发展。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Advancements in high throughput screening, and mandates all over the world to reduce animal testing, have driven the development of a variety of assays to evaluate potentially new drugs and their side effects. Environmental monitoring of potentially harmful chemicals and by-products has also driven the development of new assays. Convenient cell based systems for testing a wide variety of products with a variety of cell types has become a great need. In Phase I, we proposed the development of a system providing ready to use cells on microtiter plates for any desirable assay. We demonstrated that bovine corneal endothelial cells (BCE) attached to tissue culture plastic or an extracellular matrix can be cryopreserved and be viable after thawing. We have also shown that we are able to uniformly cool and warm microtiter plates and improve overall retention of cells to their substrate. The goal of the Phase II proposal, is to further define and optimize the parameters that will provide successful cryopreservation of BCE cells attached to microtiter plates. It was shown that cells attached to an extracellular matrix demonstrated better viability after cryopreservation than cells attached to tissue culture plastic. Further examination of extracellular matrix components will be performed to determine if adjustments to the composition of the matrix can improve viability and attachment. In addition other cryobiological variables will be evaluated including optimization of cooling, the choice of cryoprotectant vehicle solution and its influence on cell survival as well as long term storage of cells after cryopreservation on microtiter plates. All these experiments are designed to further optimize the system and provide cells on plates that are ready to use for a variety of applications. Validation of cryopreserved BCE cells will be provided by a battery of functional assays including, but not limited to, responses to toxicants, extracellular matrix formation, barrier function and nitric oxide production. It is anticipated that optimization of procedures for corneal endothelial cells will provide a technology platform that can be applied, with further development, to other cell types.