Adsorption, encapsulated solute leakage and microflow of giant vesicles during anhydrobiotic preservation in trehalose solutions

Inspired by the variety of organisms that are naturally desiccation tolerant, anhydrobiotic preservation potentially furnishes a means of processing and storing mammalian cells in a state of "suspended animation" at ambient conditions in carbohydrate glasses. Although there have been promising applications of this technique, especially when employing the disaccharide trehalose, the ultimate goal of room temperature long-term storage has thus far not been achieved -- at least in part owing to an incomplete understanding of the fundamental cellular damage mechanisms. Although there have been many studies examining the thermodynamics of relevance to anhydrobiotic preservation, particularly with regard to lipid phase and the effect of carbohydrates thereupon, comparatively little attention has been paid to the effect of transport kinetics on preservation success. Further, although cells are typically dried in carbohydrate solutions on a solid support, there are few studies on the role played by the support. This work seeks to help remedy such deficiencies. First, considering damage mechanisms at the individual cell level, giant liposomes were employed as a model cell system, given that the cell membrane is a key damage site.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Chemical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Adams, Dana R. (Dana Renée)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Robert S. Langer.

• Chemical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/38986

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/38986