Bio-inert Surface of Pluronic-immobilized Flask for Preservation of Hematopoietic Stem Cells

Human umbilical cord blood was stored at $4^{\circ}C$ in the Pluronic-immobilized flask as well as commercially available bio-inert flasks, and flow cytometric analysis of surface markers was performed on hematopoietic stem cells after cultivation. The number of cells expressing $CD34^{+}$ in umbilical cord blood on the Pluronic-immobilized flask was extremely higher than those obtained using other flasks. It is concluded that the flexible and hydrophilic segments of Pluronic conjugated on the flask surface are the reason for the effective preservation of hematopoietic stem cells in the Pluronic-immobilized flask.