Actual approaches to the transportation of biological samples at low temperatures

Abstract

Taking into account the impact of shipment method of biosamples is necessary for obtaining high-quality biological samples in biobanking and laboratory research. The impact of liquid nitrogen, dry ice and cold accumulators on the quality of biological markers was considered, as well as recommendations to reduce the impact of these methods of shipment. The liquid nitrogen provides the best preservation of samples, however, dry ice is used much more often during their transportation. When transporting certain types of cells using dry ice, there is the way to use CryoStor CS1 and Cell Banker 1 cryoprotectors. The dry ice has a significant effect on both the pH of liquid biological samples and the coagulological parameters of plasma samples. The penetration of CO2 into the sample leads to changes in the parameters of PTT and APPT, as well as to decrease the protein C and fibrinogen level under certain conditions. Serum and plasma samples exposed to dry ice for more than 16 hours should be thawed open at room temperature, or instead of it should be kept at -80 °C for 24 hours to avoid changes in coagulation parameters, The use of cold accumulators is unacceptable for long-term shipment of serum and plasma containing unstable biomarkers because of insufficiently low temperature (increase over time to -25 °C and above). Besides, metal pellets can be used as cold storage batteries at low temperatures (up to -80 ° C), but they are not as effective as dry ice, since it is able to hold the required temperature for much longer.