Cryopreservation
After the collection, the cord blood unit is shipped to the lab and processed, and then cryopreserved. There are many ways to process a cord blood unit, and there are differing opinions on what is the best way. Some processing methods separate out the red blood cells and remove them, while others keep the red blood cells. However the unit is processed, a cryopreservant is added to the cord blood to allow the cells to survive the cyrogenic process. After the unit is slowly cooled to −90°C, it can then be added to a liquid nitrogen tank which will keep the cord blood unit frozen at −196°C. The slow freezing process is important to keep the cells alive during the freezing process. The protocols used for the cryopreservation have largely been adapted from those originally designed for the bone marrow haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. There is no consensus yet on optimal procedures for these cord blood cells, although many cryopreservation strategies suggest using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), slow or controlled rate cooling, and rapid thawing.
Read more about this topic: Cord Blood Bank