Cryopreservation of livestock colostrum-derived mesenchymal stem cells

目前，抗生素被广泛用于预防和控制猪、牛等农场动物的疾病和感染。然而，继续在供人类食用的动物身上使用抗生素会导致细菌的生长，从而对抗生素产生耐药性。这些有害细菌也可以通过食物链传给人类。加拿大卫生部正在逐步停止在畜牧业中使用某些抗生素，以限制肉类和其他动物产品中耐抗生素细菌对公众构成的危险。因此，需要新的、安全和有效的策略，在不使用抗生素的情况下通过预防疾病/感染来提高牲畜的整体免疫力和总体健康。系统生物技术公司（MySteMBiotech）正在开发一种新产品，该产品由猪和奶牛的牛奶细胞组成，可以代替抗生素使用。这些细胞的来源是初乳，即动物分娩后几天内分泌的“第一乳”。虽然大家都知道初乳富含抗体，但他们的初步结果表明，初乳还含有一种特殊类型的细胞，称为间充质干细胞（MSCs）。这些细胞有能力增强人体对可能导致疾病的微生物的保护反应。该公司已经成功地从猪和牛的初乳中分离出这些细胞，并在培养皿中培养以增加它们的数量。他们还表明，这些细胞有能力消灭培养中的细菌。我们在活细胞和组织的长期储存领域的专业知识将解决公司对冷冻细胞的需求，这样它们就可以保持活力以备将来使用，并且可以以一种容易且安全的形式给予农场动物。这项研究预计将产生的创新技术代表了一种自然而经济的方法，可以提高加拿大牲畜的健康水平，促进我们的农业和农业食品工业。

Currently, antibiotics are widely used to prevent and control disease and infections in farm animals such as pigsand cows. However, the continued use of antibiotics in animals meant for human consumption can cause thegrowth of bacteria that become resistant to antibiotics. These harmful bacteria can also be passed on to humansvia the food chain. Health Canada is moving to phase out the use of some antibiotics in the animal industry tolimit the danger posed to the public by antibiotic-resistant bacteria in meat and other animal products.Therefore, new, safe and efficient strategies are needed to improve overall immunity and general health oflivestock by preventing disease/infection without the use of antibiotics. MySteM Biotechnologies Inc.(MySteMBiotech) is developing a new product composed of cells from the milk of pigs and cows that can beused instead of antibiotics. The source of the cells is the colostrum, the "first milk" released during the fewdays within the time the animals give birth. While it is widely known that colostrum is rich in antibodies, theirpreliminary results show that it also contains a special type of cells called mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).These cells have the ability to boost the body's protective response against microorganisms that can causedisease. The company has successfully isolated these cells from pig and cow colostrum and grown them inculture to increase their numbers. They have also shown that these cells have the ability to wipe out bacteria inculture. Our expertise in the field of long-term storage of live cells and tissues will address the company's needfor strategies to freeze the cells so they can be kept alive for future use and in a form that can be readily andsafely given to farm animals. The enabling and innovative technology that is anticipated to result from thisstudy represents a natural and economic approach to enhance the health of Canada's livestock and boost ouragriculture and agri-food industry.