Vitrification is the preservation of cells and tissues by using high cryoprotecting agent (CPA) concentrations and high cooling rates that result in a glass state of the solution. This method of cryopreservation avoids the formation of ice altogether, and it is commonly used in the fertility field. This study mathematically investigates the possibility of freezing multiple samples in a single device at once. Since the cooling rate during vitrification plays such a vital role, it is important to maintain a homogeneous temperature through the entire sample, which might be harder to achieve if additional samples are present. Although the cooling rate is not the only factor that determines the survival rate of the cells, the model in this study shows that neither the amount nor the various geometric alignments of samples loaded in one device affect the cooling rate of the samples, which indicates that multiple samples could be stored at once, and a uniform cooling rate between samples would result in uniform outcomes of the preservation process between samples.

Vitrifying multiple embryos in different arrangements does not alter the cooling rate. Timothy Ostler, T, Woolley, T.E., Swann, K, Thomson, A., Priddle, H., Palmer, G., Kaouri, K. Cryobiology. 2021 103:22–31