Analysis of Pluripotent Cell in Post-circumcised Preputial Skin using Cold Transport Methods (Ice and Dry Ice) with Oct-4 Expression

Abstract

The discovery of pluripotent cells in preputial skin, a previously discarded tissue, means prepuce can become a new source of stem cell banking which can be beneficial for the donor and his family. In transporting preputial skin to the biobank, we wanted to see simpler and inexpensive cold transport methods using dry ice and ice rather than liquid nitrogen to preserve the stem cells. The preputial skins were obtained from mass circumcision with informed consents and transported into the laboratory with dry ice or ice. In the laboratory, the skin samples underwent histotechnique process, Hematoxylin-Eosin (HE) staining, and Immunohistochemistry (IHC) with Oct-4 antibody staining. The data was analyzed using microscope, OptiLab™, Image Raster™, and SPSS. Oct-4 positive expression was counted and the data was examined with SPSS. The mean of Oct-4 expression in samples transported with dry ice was 2.30 and ice was 2.38. Our study resulted in no significant difference between dry ice and ice (P value is 0.901) in the Oct-4 expression. Thus, dry ice and ice have equal function as cold transport method for preputial skin and can be used as a bridge towards liquid nitrogen freezing.