Cell Freezing Media and Salt-Based Solutions
High-Performance Protection for Cell Freezing and Non-Freezing Storage
Sartorius offers biopreservation solutions for short-term cold storage as well as long-term cryopreservation. NutriFreez® cell freezing and NutriStor® Cold Storage Solutions are designed and validated for the preservation of cells, including sensitive cells such as stem cells, T cells, and PBMCs . They provide animal component-free (ACF) conditions during biopreservation, essential to maintaining consistency when culturing cells in xeno-free and ACF systems. With proven reliability and consistency, NutriFreez® and NutriStor® provide a high performance and recovery rate after cold storage, freezing, and thawing processes.
Find Your Biopreservation Solution
Cryopreservation and Cold-Storage Solutions
Optimized to protect a wide range of human and animal-derived cells including primary cells, lymphocytes and stem cells in temperatures as low as -196°C, as well as in non-frozen short-term storage and shipment
Enhanced cell viability and recovery
Unique, serum-free, fully defined formulations
cGMP manufactured
Suitable for clinical applications
Choose the Optimal Freezing Media for Your Cells
NutriFreez® D10 Cryopreservation Media effectively maintain cell viability, adhesion, and bioactivity in various cell types including stem cells, T cells, PBMCs, CHO, and Vero cells.
Contains 10% DMSO
Animal component-free
Protein-free
Ready-to-use solution, simple protocol
cGMP manufactured
Drug Master File (DMF) available
Choose the Optimal Freezing Solution for Cell Therapies
NutriFreez® D5 Salt-Based Cryopreservation is the optimal solution for the freezing and thawing of cells intended for cell therapies and clinical applications.
Contains 5% DMSO
Animal component-free
Protein-free
Ready-to-use solution, simple protocol
GMP manufactured
High viability, recovery rates, and performance, even for extremely sensitive cells
Choose the Optimal Solution for Cold Storage
Enables sensitive cells to be stored for short terms and shipped without the need for repeated freeze-thaw cycles and multiple centrifugation steps while maintaining their stability.
- Animal component-free
- Protein-free
- Ready-to-use
- cGMP manufactured
Featured Assets
Learn More About Biopreservation Solutions
Choosing Biopreservation Solutions for Research and Cell Therapy
- Cell freezing media: Optimized for maximum cell viability and recovery, NutriFreez® protects a wide range of cells, including highly sensitive cell types such as primary cells, lymphocytes, T cells, and stem cells (hMSCs and hPSCs).
Cold-storage solution: optimized for the short-term storage of sensitive cells without the need for freezing. NutriStor® provides maximum stability at 2–8°C.
- Unique, high-quality, serum-free, animal component-free, protein-free, fully defined formulations are ideal for research, cell banking, and therapeutic applications.
Salt-based solutions are available and appropriate for cell therapy applications.
- Manufactured in compliance with cGMP guidelines.
- DMF available.
- Referenced by more than 300 publications.
- Customization and scale-up support is available.
FAQs - Cell Freezing Media
Cells lose water during freezing – they shrink in size and quickly lose viability if they go below a minimum volume. Adding cryoprotectant agents like dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) mitigates these effects.
The medium should include an agent that can absorb water to prevent ice crystal formation during the slow freezing process and maintain cell viability.
Serum is a black box that contains components that are not necessary for cryopreservation, and might even harm cells during freezing and thawing. Animal component-free solutions help enhance viability and recovery, in addition to reproducibility and consistency.
DMSO is cytotoxic to cells. During cryopreservation, cells can only stay in DMSO diluted in solution to 10% and under.
You can freeze cells without DMSO as long as you have nontoxic protective agents with the same effect.
Most cell cultures can be stored for many years, if not indefinitely, at temperatures below –130°C. ATCC has recovered cells from cultures cryopreserved for more than 40 years. The advantages of cryopreservation far outweigh the required investment in equipment and reagents. These advantages include:
- Generating safety stocks to prevent losing a culture from equipment failures or contamination by microorganisms or other cell lines.
- Saving time, energy, and materials that would be required to maintain cultures not in use.
- Preserving cells with finite population doublings that will ultimately senesce.
- Preventing phenotypic drift arising from genetic instability and/or selective pressure.
- Creating a standard reagent that can be used for a series of experiments (source: ATCC guide for Animal Cell Culture).
- Centrifuge cells at 300 – 400 × g for 4 – 5 minutes to obtain a cell pellet. Then aseptically remove the supernatant.
- Suspend the pellet in cryopreservation solution at 2°C – 8°C. Mix thoroughly and transfer the suspension to a cryovial (e.g., 1.0 mL of suspension in a 1.5 mL cryovial).
- Freeze the cells gradually (1°C – 2°C per minute) using a controlled rate freezing system and store the vials in liquid nitrogen (vapor phase). Alternately, place the vials in a freezing container and transfer to -80°C overnight. Transfer the cryovials into liquid nitrogen the following day – we recommend the vapor phase.
- Determine the efficiency of cryopreservation by thawing one vial after 24 hours of storage in liquid nitrogen.