• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.665-669
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• 2006

Somatic embryos do not survive at exposure to liquid nitrogen temperatures without cryoprotective treatments. A simplified technique which simultaneously induces and cryoprotects embryogenic calli using plant vitrification solution 2 (PVS2) followed by dehydration was developed for the cryopreservation of Soap berry genetic resources. Vitrification is a way of removing the moisture in vegetation through PVS2. The PVS2 vitrification solution consisted of 30% glycerol (w/v), 15% ethylene glycol (w/v), 15% Dimethylsulfoxide (w/v) in B5 medium containing 0.4M sucrose. Two tests were done. The one was to eliminate moisture at $0^{\circ}C$ and the other at $25^{\circ}C$. In both cases the best results came out at a vitrification time of $10{\sim}20$ minutes. It was also found that the survival rate was higher at $0^{\circ}C$ than at $25^{\circ}C$. In particular, the survival rate reached more than 80%. Water-damaged embryos turned brown and stoped growth, but energetic embryos took on a milky hue and show a very vigorous growth rate. Successful cryopreservation of somatic embryos of soapberry can be used to establish in vitro genebanks for long-term conservation of Soapberry genetic resources to complement field genebanks and other in vitro methods already being used.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.283-289
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• 2000

Objective: The study was performed to compare the survival rate and the development of day 2 mouse embryos which had freezing procedures done. Methods: We used three different vitrification solutions (EFS, VS14, DPS) and a ultrarapid freezing solution (UFS) for cryopreservation of day 2 mouse embryo. Results: We tested toxicity by exposing embryos to vitirification solutions and a ultrarapid freezing solution. The survival rates are 100%, 97.8%, 95.6% and 100% (EFS, VS14, DPS and UFS). After cultured for 96 hours, hatching rates of each group are 93.5% (no freezing), 95.6% (EFS), 86.4% (VS14), 93.0% (DPS), and 93.0% (UFS). There is no significant differences among groups. The survival rates after thawing cryopreserved embryos are 80.2%, 91.7%, 69.5%, 0% and 91.8% (slow freezing, EFS, VS14, DPS and UFS). Also cultured for 96 hours, the hatching rates are 93.5% (no freezing), 84.1% (slow freezing), 93.9% (EFS), 48.5% (VS14) and 70.1% (UFS). Conclusion: The survival rates of vitrification in EFS solution and ultrarapid freezing are higher than slow freezing (p<0.05). The hatching rate of vitrification in EFS solution cultured for 96 hours is highest, so vitrification of day 2 mouse embryos in EFS solution considered as more effective for cryopreservation.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.173-183
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• 2024

Vitrification, one of the most promising solidification processes for various materials, has been applied to radioactive waste to improve its disposal stability and reduce its volume. Because the thermal decomposition of dry active waste (DAW) significantly reduces its volume, the volume reduction factor of DAW vitrification is high. The KHNP developed the optimal glass composition for the vitrification of DAW. Since vitrification offers a high-volume reduction ratio, it is expected that disposal costs could be greatly reduced by the use of such technology. The DG-2 glass composition was developed to vitrify DAW. During the maintenance of nuclear power plants, metals containing paper, clothes, and wood are generated. ZrO₂ and HfO₂ are generally considered to be network-formers in borosilicate-based glasses. In this study, a feasibility study of vitrification for DAW that contains metal particulates is conducted to understand the applicability of this process under various conditions. The physicochemical properties are characterized to assess the applicability of candidate glass compositions.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2003

This study was conducted to investigate that the immature and mature oocytes of porcine can be cryopreserved by vitrification. Oocytes were centrifuged to polarize the cytoplasmic lipid droplets. The lipids were removed from cytoplasm by micromanipulation. Delipated oocytes were centrifuged after being preincubated with cytochalasin B(CB) fer 10 min, and lipid droplets were removed. Centrifuged oocytes were treated with CB and centrifuged to polorize lipid droplets but not delipated and control oocytes is not-treatment. Oocytes of three types were vitrified in electron microscope(EM) grids. The results of survival, maturation and cleavage rates were as follows. 1 The survival rates of immature oocytes were 15.1%, 0% and 0% in the Delipated, Centrifuged and Control after vitrification, respectively, and its rate of Delipated wassignificantly higher than Centrifuged and Control(P<.01). 2. The survival rates of mature oocytes were 12.21%, 0% and 0% in the Delipated, Centrifuged and Control after vitrification, respectively, and its rate of Delipated was significantly higher than Centrifuged and Control(P<.01). 3 The maturation rates of immature oocytes were 37.5% and 68.9% for metaphase II in the Delipated after vitrification and Non-vitrification, respectively, and its rate of Non-vitrification was significantly higher than Delipated after vitrification(P<.01). 4. The cleavage rates of immature oocytes were 12.5%, 0%, 0% and 56.1% in the Delipated, Centrifuged, Control after vitrification and Non-vitrification, respectively. It's rate of Delipated was higher than Centrifuged and Control, but there were no significant difference, and its rate of Non-vitrification was significantly higher than Delipated, Centrifuged and Control(P<.05). 5 The cleavage rates of mature oocytes were 25.0%, 0%, 0% and 67.9% in the Delipated, Centrifuged, Control after vitrification and Non-vitrification, respectively. It's rate of Delipated was higher than Centrifuged and Control, but there were no significant difference, and its rate of Non-vitrification was significantly higher than Delipated, Centrifuged and Control(P<.05).

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.269-274
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of Taxol pre-treatment to in vitro matured bovine oocytes, and sucrose and trehalose added to vitrification solution on spindle morphology and embryonic development following cryopreservation. Bovine oocytes were collected from ovaries and matured in tissue culture medium 199 (TCM 199) supplemented with 10% Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS), 0.05ng/ml epidermal growth factor, 0.01 IU/ml luteinizing hormone and $1{\mu}g/ml$ estradiol for 22h in $39^{\circ}C$, 5% $CO_2$, TCM 199-HEPES containing 20% FBS was used as basic medium (BM) to prepare vitrification solution. Oocytes were pre-treated with $1\;{\mu}M$ Taxol in maturation medium for 15 min prior to vitrification. Oocytes were exposed to 1.6 M ethylene glycol (EG) and 1.3M dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in BM and then were exposed to 3.2 M EG, 2.6 M DMSO and 0.5 M sucrose in BM or 3.2 M EG, 2.6 M DMSO and 0.5 M trehalose in BM. Oocytes with cumulus cells and oocytes without cumulus cells were considered as control 1 and control 2, respectively and held in TCM 199-HEPES at $39^{\circ}C$. Oocytes were frozen using modified solid surface vitrification and were stored in cryotubes in liquid nitrogen for more than 1 week. Frozen oocytes were thawed in TCM 199-HEPES containing 0.5 M, 0.25 M and 0.1 M sucrose in BM for 2 min, respectively or 0.5 M, 0.25 M and 0.1 M trehalose in BM for 2 min, respectively. Immunoflurorescence staining of oocytes was performed to assess spindle morphology and chromosome configuration of oocytes. The rates of cleavage and blastocyst were examined following in vitro fertilization. Normal spindle morphology rate of oocytes pre-treated with Taxol prior to vitrification was not higher than that of other vitrified groups. Taxol pre-treatment did not increase cleavage and blastocyst formation rates, although control groups showed significantly higher rates (p<0.05). Percentages of normal spindle and embryonic development were not significantly different among vitrified groups regardless of type of sugar. In conclusion, Taxol pre-treatment of oocytes before cryopreservation did not reduce the damage induced by vitrification and subsequently did not improve embryonic development following vitrification. Trehalose may be used as an alternative non-permeating cryoprotectant in vitrification solution.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.117-125
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• 2014

Vitrification method is widely used in oocyte cryopreservation for IVF but the birth rates are lower than that of the fresh oocyte. One of the known main reasons is structural instability of meiotic spindle and chromosome systems of mature oocyte. To get the best way for keeping competence of matured oocytes, we studied the best conditions for vitrification focused on equilibration times. The mature oocytes were underwent vitrification with current popular method and analyzed the survival rates, microtubule stability and DNA integrity. The survival rates of recovered oocyte are almost same between groups and are more than 93%. The structural configuration of meiotic spindle was well kept in 10 min equilibration group and the stability rate was almost same with that of control. The chromosomal breakdown was observed in all experimental groups, but the chromosomal stability was higher in 10 min equilibration group than the other groups. The 10 min equilibration group showed best condition compared with the other groups. Based on these results, the equilibration time is one of the key factors in successful keeping for competence of mature oocyte. Although, more fine analysis about the effects of physical stress on oocyte during vitrification is needed to define the optimal condition, it is suggested that the optimal equilibration time to get competent oocyte in mouse is 10 min. Information acquired this study may provide insight into intracellular structural events occurring in human oocytes after vitrification and application for cryopreservation of human oocyte.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.103-108
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• 2007

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of cryoprotectants, warming solution and removal of lipid on open pulled straw vitrification (OPS) method of porcine embryos produced by nuclear transfer (NT) of fetal fibroblasts. All solutions used during vitrification were prepared with holding medium consisting of 25 mM Hepes buffered TCM199 medium containing 20% fetal bovine serum (FBS) at $38.5^{\circ}C$. The blastocysts derived from NT with or without lipid were vitrified in each medium of different concentrations of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and ethylene glycol (EG). Also, blastocysts after cryopreservation were warmed into different concentrations of sucrose in warming solution. The optimal concentrations of cryoprotectants in vitrification solution were 10% DMSO + 10% EG in vitrification solution 1 (VS1) and 20% DMSO + 20% EG in vitrification solution 2 (VS2). The optimal concentrations of sucrose were 0.3 M sucrose in warming solution 1 (WS1) and 0.15 M sucrose in warming solution 2 (WS2). lipid removal from oocytes before NT enhanced the viability of NT embryos after vitrification. Our results show that use of the OPS method in conjunction with lipid removal provides effective cryopreservation of porcine nuclear transfer embryos.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.229-236
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• 2002

Objective : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of Cytochalasin B (CCB) on the cytoskeletal stability of mouse oocyte frozen by vitrification. Methods : Mouse oocytes retrieved from cycle stimulated by PMSG and hCG were treated by CCB and then vitrified in EFS-30. These oocytes were placed onto an EM grid and submerged immediately in liquid nitrogen. Thawing of the oocytes was carried out at room temperature for 5 seconds, then the EM grid was placed into 0.75 M, 0.5 M and 0.25 M sucrose at $37^{circ}C$ for 3 minutes, each. These oocytes were fixed in 4% formaldehyde for an hour and then washed in PPB for 15 minutes 3 times, then incubated in PPB containing anti-tubulin monoclonal antibody at $4^{circ}C$ overnight. And then, the oocytes were incubated with FITC-conjugated anti-mouse IgG and propidium iodide (PI) for 45 minutes. Pattern of microtubules and microfilaments of oocytes were evaluated with a confocal microscope. Results: The rate of oocytes containing normal microtubules and microfilaments was significantly decreased after vitrification. The rate of oocyte containing normal microtubules in CCB treated group was higher than those in non-treated group (53.7% vs. 48.9%), but the difference was not significant. The rate of oocyte containing normal microfilaments in CCB treated group was significantly higher than those in non-treated group (64.5% vs. 38.3%, p<0.05). Conclusion: Microfilaments stability could be improved by CCB treatment prior to vitrification. It is suggested that CCB treatment prior to vitrification improve stability of cytoskeleton and then increase success rate in IVF-ET program using vitrification and thawing oocyte.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.251-256
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• 1999

The present study was conducted to evaluate whether vitrification could be used for ovarian tissue preservation. The important issue here is that the vitrification is very simple, easy, and economical compared to the conventional cryopreserving method that using automatic freezing instrument. Human ovarian cortical tissues were cryopreserved by vitrification with 5.5 M ethylene glycol and 1.0 M sucrose as cryoprotectant. Three points of temperature ($4^{\circ}C$, room temperature, and $37^{\circ}C$) and two points of duration (5 or 10 minutes) for cryoprotectant treatment were examined to determine the best condition for vitrification of the human ovarian cortical tissues. After thawing, viability of the isolated primordial follicles was examined by dye-exclusion method. Histological appearance of tissues before and after the cryopreservation was evaluated. There was no toxic effect of the 5.5 M ethylene glycol on the primordial follicles. However, when the tissues were treated with cryoprotectant at $37^{\circ}C$ for 10 minutes and exposed to liquid nitrogen, it seems likely that there is certain deleterious effects on the viability of the primordial follicles. The highest viability of the primordial follicles was obtained with the treatment of cryoprotectant at room temperature for 10 minutes. Follicles and oocytes survived after freezing and thawing had the similar normal shapes as was seen in the specimens before cryopreservation. It would be useful to apply vitrification in establishing ovarian tissue banking for clinical purposes.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.325-333
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• 1997

The use of hormonal stimulation in human in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) leads to increased production of embryos for ET. So to avoid high pregnancies and to allow conception in future, unstimulated cycles, cryopreservation of spare embryos is desirable. One of the improvement of cryopreservation methods is vitrification. We cryopreserved mouse day 3 embryos by vitrification using the three different vitrification solution (EFS40, VS11 and VS3a). EFS40 solution is consisted of 40% (v/v) ethylene glycol, Ficol170 30% (w/v) and 0.5M sucrose and VS11 is 6.0M ethylene glycol and 1.8M glycerol. And VS3a is 6.5M glycerol and 6% (w/v) BSA (bovine serum albumin). First we tested the toxicity of three vitrification solution by exposure to these solution during 3 min. After washing by thawing solution, the survival rates of each groups are 95.5%, 90.9% and 84.4% (EFS40, VS11 and VS3a). High percentages of them developed to expanded blastocyst and hatching embryos in culture 48hrs 94.2%, 97.7%, 100% and 97.4% (no treatment group, EFS40, VS11 and VS3a). So there is no significant differences among the each group. Second, after thawing of vitirfied embryos, the survival rates of each groups are 96.8% (slow freeze), 94.1% (EFS40), 85.5% (VS11) and 80.0% (VS3a, P vs. no freeze or EFS40 is 0.01). Vitrified embryos exhibited a high rate of development in vitro after 48hrs culture. The percentages of each group to blastocyst and hatching embryos are 88.7% (no freeze), 91.8% (slow freeze), 93.4% (EFS40), 87.7% (VS11) and 73.0% (VS3a, P vs. other group is 0.01). The results suggest that there is no significant differences in exposure of various vitrification solution and day 3 mouse embryos can be vitrified in solution EFS40 and VS11 by simple procedure.