The aim of this study was to investigate whether vitrification in the cryopreservation of periodontal ligament (PDL) cells could be useful for tooth banking.

In step 1, primary cultured human PDL cells were cryopreserved in 100% conventional cryopreservation media and 100% vitrification media (ESF40 media) in different temperatures for 2 weeks. In step 2, a series of modified vitrification formulae named T1 (75% vitrification media + 25% F-media), T2 (50% vitrification media + 50% F-media) and T3 (25% vitrification media + 75% F-media) were used to store PDL cells for 2 weeks and 4 weeks in liquid nitrogen. MTT assay was performed to examine the viability of PDL cells.

Maximum cell viability was achieved in cells stored in 100% conventional cryopreservation media at -196℃ (positive control group) in step 1. Compared to the positive control group, viability of the cells stored in 100% vitrification media was very low as 10% in all test conditions. In step 2, as the percentage of vitrification media decreased, the cell viability increased in cells stored for 2 weeks. In 4-week storage of cells in step 2, higher cell viability was observed in the T2 group than the other vitrification formulae while the positive control group had the highest viability. There was no statistically significant difference in the cell viability of 2-week and 4-week stored cells in the T2 group.

These observations indicate 100% vitrification media is not successful in PDL cell cryopreservation. Conventional cryopreservation media is currently the most appropriate media type for this purpose while T2 media would be interesting to test for long-term storage of PDL cells.