• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.343-349
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• 2009

This study was designed to simplify a cryopreservation program for embryonic stem cells (ESCs) by selection of cooling method and cryoprotectant. Commercially available mouse E14 embryonic stem cells (ESCs) were cryopreserved with various protocols, and morphology and viability of the frozen-thawed ESCs and their reactive oxygen species (ROS) production were subsequently monitored. Post-thaw colony-formation of ESCs was detected only after a slow freezing using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) by stepwise placement of a freezing container into a $-80^{\circ}C$ deep freezer and subsequently into -$196^{\circ}C$ liquid nitrogen, while no proliferation was detected after vitrification. When the simplified protocol was employed, the replacement of DMSO with a mixture of DMSO and ethylene glycol (EG) further improved the post-thaw survival. ROS generation in ESCs frozen-thawed with the optimized protocol was not increased compared with non-frozen ESCs. The use of fresh mouse embryonic fibroblasts as feeder cells for post-thaw subculture did not further increase post-thaw cell viability. In conclusion, a simplified slow-freezing program without employing programmable freezer but using DMSO and EG was developed which maintains cell viability and colony-forming activity of ESCs during post-thaw subculture.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.203-209
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• 2011

Objective: This study was performed to compare the efficiency of slow freezing and vitrification based on survival, development to blastocysts, and cell numbers of blastocysts. Changes in embryonic gene expression in fresh and frozen-thawed embryos were also examined. Methods: Eight-cell stage embryos were collected from superovulated female BDF1 mice. The collected embryos were randomly divided into three groups. One group was maintained as fresh controls (n=42), one was frozen by slow freezing (n=43), and one was cooled by vitrification (n=43). After thawing or cooling, survival rates, development to blastocyst, and cell numbers and inner cell mass (ICM) cell numbers of blastocysts were compared with those of the control group. The expressions of eight genes ($Rbm3$, $Birc5$, $Sod1$, $Sod2$, $Cirbp$, $Caspase3$, $Trp53$, $Hsp70.1$) were examined by real time-quantitative polymerase chain reaction in the fresh and frozen-thawed embryos. Results: There were no significant differences in the slow freezing and vitrification groups' survival rate after thawing (88.4% vs. 88.4%), development to blastocyst (100% vs. 97.4%), cell numbers ($107.0{\pm}21.0$ vs. $115.0{\pm}19.7$), or ICM cell numbers of blastocysts ($11.3{\pm}5.2$ vs. $11.1{\pm}3.7$). Cell numbers of blastocysts were significantly ($p$ <0.05) lower in the frozen-thawed embryos than the fresh embryos. There were no significant differences in the slow freezing and the vitrification groups' expressions of the eight genes. The expressions of $CirbP$ and $Hsp70.1$ were higher in the frozen-thawed embryos than in the fresh embryos but there were no significant differences. Conclusion: These results suggest that there were no significant differences between embryos that underwent slow freezing and vitrification.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.263-268
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• 2000

The development of single blastomeres isolated from 2-, 4- and 8-cell mouse embryos and the ability of such blastomeres to survive slow freezing were studied. Of 223, 60 and 188 single blastomeres isolated from 2-, 4- and 8-cell mouse embryos, respectively, 111 blastomeres (49.8%) from 2-cell embryos, 12 blastomeres (20.0%) from 4-cell embryos and blastomeres (16.5) from 8-cell embryos developed into blastocysts after culture for 96 hrs. The recovery rate was 54.2% (65/120), 46.4% (13/28) and 24.3% (17/70) of blastomeres derived from 2-, 4- and 8-cell embryos following freezing and thawing and the survival of frozen-thawed blastomeres was 27.1% (16/59), 36.4% (4/11) and 17.6% (3/17), and respectively. The apparently six normal fetuses were obtained from frozen-thawed blastomere from 2-cell embryos after transferring into the recipients. These results indicate that mouse btastomeres isolated from preimplatation stage embryos can survive storage in liquid nitrogen following slow freezing.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.121-129
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• 2001

Objective: The aim of this study is to compare the efficiency of a method for the cryopreservation of mouse blastocyst.. Methods: Mouse embryos were obtained at 2-cell stage and cultured to blastocyst stage in T6 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. Morphologically normal blastocysts were collected and randomly divided to one control and four experimental groups. In control group, blastocysts were cultured in vitro continuously for additional two days. In group 2, blastocysts were exposed to vitrification solution (ethylene glycol) only without cryopreservation (exposure only group). In group 3, 4 and 5, blastocysts were cryopreserved by slow-freezing procedure with glycerol (slow-fteezing group) or by vitrification procedure using EM grids (EM grids group) and cryoloop (cryoloop group), respectively. Frozen blastocysts were thawed and cultured for additional two days. Twenty four hours after thawing, some blastocysts were fixed and stained with Hoechst 33342 (bisbenzimide) and the number of nuclei in each blastocysts were counted to confirm the survival of bias to cysts in experimental groups. Results: Survival rate and hatching rate of the blastocysts in slow-freezing group (24 h: 72.4% and 66.0%, 48 h: 63.2% and 64.6%) and EM grids group (24 h: survival rate 77.3%, 48 h: 70.1% and 71.4%) were significantly lower ($X^2$-test p<0.05) than those of control group (24 h: 93.4% and 86.0%, 48 h: 88.5% and 90.7%). In contrast, the survival rate and hatching rate of the blastocysts in cryoloop group (24 h: 84.1% and 84.1%,48 h 79.3% and 87.7%) is well compared with those in the control group. The mean (${\pm}SD$) cell number of blastocyst in the exposure only ($89.2{\pm}11.5$), EM grids ($85.0{\pm}10.3$) and cryoloop ($89.0{\pm}11.0$) groups, except slow-freezing group ($79.0{\pm}10.0$), were not significantly different from that of control group ($93.1{\pm}13.9$) 24 h after thawing (Student's t-test). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that higher survival rate of vitrified-thawed mouse blastocyst can be obtained using cryoloop as the embryo container at freezing rather than slow-freezing or vitrification using EM grids. The results of this study suggest that vitrification using cryoloop (with ethylene glycol) may be a preferable procedure for mouse blastocyst cryopreservation and could be applied to the human blastocyst cryopreservation.

• Food Engineering Progress
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.328-334
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• 2010

Recently the enhancement and development of makgeolli processing to extend shelf life are constantly accomplished. However, the standardization to restrict microorganisms including cold chain system and sterilizing system has not been established yet. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the storage stability of makgeolli using quick freezing (QF) and slow freezing (SF) storage methods. The storage period was 40 days. Every 10 days, the samples were taken from the quick and slow freezing storage chamber. And then the samples were put into a $10^{\circ}C$ refrigerator for 24 hr to thaw them. The final samples were evaluated for chemical experiments and microbial cell counts. As a result, reducing sugar content was dramatically increased after 10 days for all of the samples. In titratable acidity and color values case, these values did not significantly change by storage time. In case of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts for all the samples, there was a decreasing tendency with storage time. Especially, in case of lactic acid bacteria, the changes from the beginning microbial cell counts ($4.1{\times}10^7$ CFU/mL) for QF and SF after 20 days were $3.6{\times}10^6$ CFU/mL and $1.8{\times}10^4$ CFU/mL, respectively. This result showed that the freezing methods could restrict the microbial growth in makgeolli.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Embryo Transfer Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.124-125
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• 2006

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.67-74
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• 2000

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the effect of vitrification on the implantation and the pregnancy of human blastocysts. Method: The transfer of the frozen-thawed blastocysts by the slow freezing or vitrification was performed between January 1998 and July 1999. The zygotes derives from IVF were cocultured with cumulus cells in YS medium containing 20% hFF for 5days. Two or three of the best balstocysts produced on day 5 were transferred into the uterus, and then supernumerary blastocysts were randomly divided into two groups. One was frozen by slow freezing and the other was frozen by vitrification method. The slow freezing procedure was performed in two steps (5% glycerol and 9% glycerol + 0.2 M sucrose for 10 min, respectively) using programmed freezer ($-2^{\circ}C$/min to $-7^{\circ}C$, manual seeding at $-7^{\circ}C$, $-0.3^{\circ}C$/min to $-38^{\circ}C$ and plunged into $LN_{2}$). The blastocysts frozen by slow freezing were thawed at $36^{\circ}C$ then removed glycerol in 7 steps. The vitrification procedure was performed in three steps (10% glycerol for 5 min, 10% glycerol + 20% ethylene glycol for 5 min, 25% glycerol + 25% ethylene glycol and directly $LN_{2}$ within 1 min). The blastocysts frozen by vitrification were thawed at $20^{\circ}C$ water then removed cryoprotectant in 3 steps. In each group, thawed blastocysts were cocultured with cumulus cells in YS medium containing 20% hFF for 18h and transferred into the uterus. The implantation rate was evaluated per transferred blastocysts and the pregnancy rate was evaluated per transfers. Results: The survival rate of vitrified group (74.5%) was higher than slow freezing group (68.0%), but not significant. When 98 thawed blastocysts of vitrification were transferred in 40 cycles, 19 pregnancies (clinical pregnancy rate; 47.5%) were established. One miscarriage occurred in the eighth week of pregnancy (ongoing pregnancy rate; 45.0%). 7 pregnancies were ongoing, 11 pregnancies went to term, and 16 healthy infants were born. The Implantation rate was 31.6%. These results were higher than those obtained by the slow freezing (clinical pregnancy rate; 40.3%, ongoing pregnancy rate; 32.5% and implantation rate; 25.3%), but not significant. Conclusion: Vitrification is a simple, quick and economical method when compared to slow freezing. It will be chosen as a good method of human embryo freezing in IVF-ET programs.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.271-281
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• 1996

The effect of superovulation (PMSG, FSH) on the ovarian response of matured cows were tested. The survival rates of bovine embryos and ovarian oocytes frozen by slow, rapid freezing and vitrification were investigated. A total of 15 heads of cow were devided into 3 groups by injection dose of GTH (PSMG, FSH). Each group was superrovulated with injections of 2, 500, 3, OOOJU PSMG and 40mg FSH followed by injection of 30mg PGF2a. Embryos were non-surgically recovered from superovulated cows 6~7days after estrus. The recovered embryos were frozen in 10% glycerol + 10% sucrose by slow and rapid freezing. Ovarian oncytes were frozen in 20% g]ycerol+l0% ethylene glycerol + 30% Ficol + 10% sucrose by vitrification and the survival of frozen embryos and ovarian oncytes were judged by FDA-test. The results are summarized as follows; 1. Estrus after the injection of 2500, 3000 I.U. PMSG and 4Omg FSH were 32.8, 35.0 and 43.4 and the duration of estrus were 18.6, 18.8 and 22.4 hours respectively. 2. The average sizes of the left ovaries were 5.4cm (2, 500 IU PMSG), 5.1cm (3, OOOIU PMSG) and 6.4cm (FSH), and the right were 6.2cm (2, 5001U PMSG), 5.7cm (3, OOOIU PMSG) and 7.&m (FSH) respectively. There were significant differences in the right overies among treatments (P<0.05). 3. The average number of ovarian follicles in the left ovaries were 4.8 (2, 500 IU PMSG), 5.2(3, 000 IU PMSG) and 7.8 (FSH) respectively. There were significant difference in the right ovaries among treatments (P<0.05). 4. In the average numbers of ovulation points in the left ovaries were 3.0 (2, 5001U PMSG), 3.2 (3, OOOIU PMSG) and 4.4 (FSH) respectively, and the right were 7.2 (2, 5001U PMSG), 7.8(3, 000IU PMSG) and 11.4 (FSH). There were significant differences in the right ovaries among treatments (P<0.05). 5. The numbers of the recovered embryos were 20 (2, 5001U PMSG), 19 (3, 000 IU PMSG) and 21 (FSH) respectively, and oncytes and degenerted oncytes were 6.5 and 11.0 Estrus periods of post parturation were 52.4days (2, 5001U PMSG), 69.8days (3, OOOIU PMSG) and 62.4days (FSH) respectively. 6. The FDA score of cow morulae frozen by slow freezing, sernirapid frezing and vitrified freezing was higher in slow (3.1) and vitrified freezing (3.0) than that in semirapid freezing (1.28). The FDA-scores of cow, pig and rabbit ovarian oocytes frozen in 20% glycerol + 10% ethylene glycol + 30% Ficoll + 10% sucrose by vitrification were higher in cows (3.3) than both in pigs (2.6) and rabbits (2.3).

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.117-127
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• 1999

In concrete incorporating high volume ground granulated blast-furnace slag that has frozen at early age, to evaluated the results of resistance to freezing and thawing is very difficult because the hydration of the concrete increases over the duration of rapid freezing and thawing test. Hence, the dynamic modulus of elasticity of specimens after freezing and thawing will be favorable results unless the hydration effect is taken into consideration. In this study, a method of evaluating to the resistance to freezing and thawing of concrete subjected freezing at early age, in which the effect of hydration is modified for its increase during rapid freezing and thawing test, is investigated.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.133-139
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• 1991

This stduy was carried out in order to investigate the effects of concentration and equilibration time of cryoprotective agents on survival rate of slow and ultrarapidly frozen in vitro fertilized bovine embryos. In vitro fertilized bovine embryos, following dehydration by cryoprotective agents and sucrose, were slowly freezed(from 2$0^{\circ}C$ to -7$^{\circ}C$/-1$^{\circ}C$/min., from -7$^{\circ}C$ -35$^{\circ}C$/-0.2$^{\circ}C$/min. from -35$^{\circ}C$ to -38$^{\circ}C$/-0.3$^{\circ}C$/min.) by cell freezer and directly plunged into liquid nitrogen and thawed in 38$^{\circ}C$ water. Survival rate was defined by development rate to the morula and blastocyst stage after in vitro cultured and FDA test. The results are summarized as follows : 1. The survival rates of in vitro fertilized bovine embryos after slow frozen-thawing in the freezing medium of 0.25M sucrose added 2.5M glycerol, 3.0M DMSO, 2.0M propanediol and 2.5M glycerol＋2.0M propanediol were 84.3%, 85.9%, 77.8%, 74.3%, respectively. 2. The survival rates of in vitro fertilized bovine embryos after slow frozen-thawing in the freezing of 0.50M sucrose added 2.5M glycerol, 3.0M DMSO, 2.0M propanediol and 2.5M glycerol＋2.0M propanediol were 83.8%, 85.1%, 71.4%, 74.6%, respectively. 3. The survival rates of in vitro fertilized bovine embryos after ultrarapid frozen-thawing in the freezing of 0.25M sucrose added 2.5M glycerol, 3.0M DMSO, 2.0M propanediol and 2.5M glycerol＋3.0M propanediol were 69.3%, 70.8%, 63.2%, 67.1%, respectively. 4. The survival rates of in vitro fertilized bovine embryos after ultrarapid frozen-thawing in the freezing of 0.25M sucrose added 2.5M glycerol, 3.0M DMSO, 2.0M propanediol and 2.5M glycerol＋2.0M propanediol were 69.4%, 70.1%, 62.3%, 63.5%, respectively. 5. The survival rates of in vitro fertilized bovine embryos after slow and ultrarapid fromthawing in the freezing medium of sucrose added cryoprotective agents were not significant difference between 5min. and 10min. of equilibration time.