Vitrification and rapid freezing of rabbit fetal tissues and skin samples from rabbits and pigs.

Vitrification (3.58 M EG and 2.82 M DMSO in PBS with 20% FCS) and rapid-freezing (0.25 M sucrose, 2.25 M EG, and 2.25 M DMSO in PBS with 20% FCS) procedures were assayed to cryopreserve rabbit tissue samples from 12-day fetuses, and skin samples from live born pups and adult rabbits. These methods were also assayed to cryopreserve pig skin samples obtained from abattoir animals. The ability of rabbit tissue samples to attach and colonize the substratum by cell proliferation was not affected by the assayed cryopreservation procedures, regardless of specimen age. In porcines, sample attachment and cell proliferation capability of primary cultures were not affected by applied cryopreservation procedures. Almost all primary cultures from cryopreserved skin samples reached confluency (from 92 to 100%). Results reported here allow us to establish in both species, rabbit and pig, a cryobank of skin samples from adult specimens classified as outliers for longevity (in rabbits) and prolificacy (in pigs).