Mammalian Cell Desiccation: Facing The Challenges

The current techniques for the biopreservation of mammalian cells, such as red blood cells, human platelets, sperm cells, and stem cells, rely on hypothermic storage, which has many disadvantages including high cost of maintenance and limited transportation ability. Preservation of biomaterial in the dry state at room temperature is a novel approach to meeting the growing demand for human mammalian cells in regenerative medicine. Presently, many proteins, bacteria, pharmaceutical drugs, and foods are successfully preserved in the dried state. However, mammalian cells are desiccation sensitive and cannot be stabilized in the dried state without the use of biotechnology. Several techniques have been developed to overcome this challenge including the introduction of sugars into the cells. To date there has been encouraging, but limited, success in the development of techniques for the desiccation and dry storage of human platelets and sperm cells. This review summarizes the current state of the preservation ...