What is a stored procedure like? Can cells be stored directly in liquid nitrogen tanks?
The answer is no!
Adding liquid nitrogen directly sounds simple, just put the cells in liquid nitrogen. But it is not suitable for adding liquid nitrogen directly. Doing so will make the cells suddenly suffer from extreme low temperature, which may lead to freezing inside the cells and rupture of the cell membrane, thus seriously damaging the integrity and function of the cells.
First of all, cell digestion is needed, which usually involves the separation of cells from culture media or biological samples by using appropriate digestive enzymes. Then, the digested cells are suspended in an appropriate amount of cryopreservation solution and transferred to a cryopreservation tube.
Next, you can put the cryopreservation tube with cells in a cryobox and keep it in a refrigerator at -80℃ overnight. This process allows cells to gradually adapt to lower temperatures.
Finally, when the cells are stored in the refrigerator at -80℃ overnight, the cryopreservation tube can be transferred to a liquid nitrogen tank for longer cryopreservation. The extremely low temperature of liquid nitrogen can stably preserve cells and prevent them from further changes and aging.
Generally speaking, liquid nitrogen tanks can't directly store cells, and they need to be gradually cooled before they can be put into liquid nitrogen tanks for long-term cryopreservation.